Fan Club
by Willowsnake
Summary: Welcome to Domino High, where everyone is back for a new year of learning and—PFFT! Yeah, right! What's high school without stalkers, fights, rivalries, crushes, lust, violence, and good old-fashioned teen drama? Read to find out! (RE-MASTERED VERSION - NEW CONTENT - CHECK A/N FOR MORE INFO)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Author's Note** – Those of you who have read my chapters of _Fan Club_ before, be warned. This is a completely re-mastered version.

I decided to have the setting match that of the Japanese school year. Japanese culture and events that reflect high school life will also be incorporated into this fic. There will be many things that are different while some aspects remain the same. You'll see when you start reading.

But this is mostly a romantic comedy set in high school. There will be lots of fun, drama, cliffhangers, and experiences we all probably wished we could have experienced. So just kick back and enjoy!

* * *

**Summary:** Welcome to Domino High, where everyone is back for a new year of learning and—PFFT! Yeah, right! What's high school without stalkers, fights, rivalries, crushes, lust, violence, and good old-fashioned teen drama? Read to find out!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

What was the point of the break between the end of the school year and the beginning of the new one? School ended in March and started up again in April. What the hell had happened to the break?

One day, you left school filled with hopes and dreams for the vacation of a lifetime and then _BAM_! It was gone. In a matter of blinks, it was over. Then you'd be staring at April, stunned and wondering what exactly it was you'd done over the break that made you feel so unfulfilled.

That was the thought process of nearly every student arriving at Domino High early that morning. Or at least a variation of it.

Students gathered around the notice board in the front of the school, checking to see what homeroom class they'd landed in. Cherry blossom trees in full bloom surrounded them, enshrouding everyone in a cloud of pink. It seemed to set the atmosphere as a happy time, a hopeful time, a—

"Yugi, chill out!" exclaimed Tristan, watching—along with Yami—at how the small teen paced back and forth. "I'm sure everything's fine."

"But we haven't heard from Joey since school let out last term! What if something happened to him?" Yugi cried, his eyes becoming big and teary.

Kaiba had arrived just in time to hear that. The mutt was missing? He felt his heart beat strangely. What was with these strange heart palpitations lately?

"Guys!" Tea shouted as she jogged over to them, breathing as if she'd run a marathon. "I just saw Joey. He's fine."

Kaiba felt his heartbeat return to normal. So the mutt was okay. But it wasn't like he cared or anything. He just couldn't face his rival in a duel efficiently if Yugi was worried over the blond.

"Hey, guys," Joey announced unsurely as he made his way over to his friends. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry I didn't keep in touch."

"Dude, where the hell have you been?" pressed Tristan. So much for him being sure everything was fine. "We've been worried, man!"

"Sorry," repeated Joey. "I got asked to help out with the new underclassmen we're gettin' this year. Ya know, the ones enterin' high school? The teachers want them to ease in as soon as possible by doin' club activities, so I had to give the rundown of all the athletic clubs. Sorry I didn't keep in touch. I was busy."

"Why the hell did they pick you for that?" asked Tristan, eyebrow raised.

"I'm good at sports, all right?" Joey quipped back.

Yugi threw himself at Joey and hugged him tightly. "I'm just glad you're okay!" he wailed.

"Jeez, Yugi. Loosen the grip a little," Joey stated, chuckling.

"Hiya, hubby!"

Joey suddenly paled. He shoved Yugi away from him as he spun around. His jaw nearly dropped to the ground when he saw his worst nightmare standing before him. "What the hell are ya doin' here?" he screamed.

A girl with long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail with a few strands hanging around her face stood there, a lustful expression on her face that was only slightly dulled by the thin-framed glasses she wore.

"I couldn't just let my hubby leave me," she cooed as she ran forward and threw her arms around him. "Isn't that right, hubby?"

Kaiba felt himself twitch involuntarily.

"Get off me!" Joey shrieked, desperately trying to remove himself from her vice-grip.

"Leave him alone, Nessa," announced a new female voice. The others turned to see another person they'd never seen before. She had short brown hair with blonde highlights and she appeared quite irritated.

The one hugging Joey let go. She crossed her arms and huffed as she averted her eyes. "Fine," she ground out.

Joey glared heatedly at his attacker. "What are ya doin' here?"

"Um, Joey? Do you know them?" asked Yugi hesitantly.

"Yeah. We met over the break," the blond said with a frown. "All the upperclassmen from the different high schools got together to work with the underclassmen. It was like a seminar thing. We met there."

"Please forgive my friend," started the second girl, shooting Joey's attacker a stern glare. "I'm Willow, by the way."

"And you are?" inquired Yugi, indicating the one who'd hugged his friend.

"She's crazy ass bitch," Joey mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothin'."

"Call me Nessa," announced the attacker. "But _you_ can call me whatever you want, hubby," she said, advancing toward Joey with a predatory gaze.

Stifling a groan, the blond pinched the bridge of his nose. He was really going to have to ask his question a third time. "What are ya doin' here?" he demanded once more.

"We transferred," Nessa stated simply as Willow averted her eyes.

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't let my future husband leave me behind," she sighed in exasperation.

Joey slapped himself in the face. What did he have to do? Get a fucking restraining order? Well, come to think of it, that might not be such a bad idea.

Kaiba stared heatedly at this Nessa person. He didn't like her. She made him…feel funny. It was like he loathed her presence more than anything else in the world. Why? Why did she make him feel that way?

And why did she keep putting her grubby little hands on the mutt?

"Look, hubby!" Nessa exclaimed as she pointed at the notice board. "We're in the same class!"

"No," Joey gasped quietly as his eyes glued to where Nessa pointed. 3-A. They were in the same class! But wait. So were the rest of his friends. And Willow. He wouldn't be left alone with her!

"Now we get to spend the whole year together, hubby!"

Joey bit down on his lip to stop himself from crying out. This was going to be one hell of a year.

* * *

"Good morning, class. I'm Mr. Chie and I'll be your homeroom teacher," started an older man with graying hair. "Welcome to 3-A. Since this is your final year of high school, expect it to be hell. You'll have more homework than you'll have time for and everything is just a pain in the ass, in my honest opinion. I'm glad I'm not in your position so good luck."

Joey stared incredulously at Mr. Chie as the class grew silent. Was this guy serious? He was a teacher for crying out loud! But he did kind of look like some strange homeless person who'd been taken in off the streets. And he didn't really seem like he gave a shit either.

"I think I'm forgetting something," added Mr. Chie as he tapped his chin in thought.

"The morning assembly?" voiced Willow as she rose from her seat. "We should probably get going."

"You're right," replied Mr. Chie. And that was all he did.

"Uh…should we line up then?" asked Yugi.

"That's a good idea."

Kaiba clenched his fists in anger. Why was he stuck with such an imbecile for a teacher? He wasn't taking charge of anything! His day had already started out like crap and he didn't want it to continue in such a fashion. "Line up and get to the assembly!" he snapped, losing his patience.

Students clambered from their seats as they rushed to get in line, heading out into the hallway and over to the assembly. They weren't about to face the wrath of Kaiba so early in the morning on the first day of school.

"Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Kaiba?" Joey taunted as they headed out of the classroom.

Before the brunet could make a snarky reply in return, Nessa swooped in and grabbed the blond's arm. "I'll let you wake up on my side of the bed," she said with a wink.

"What the hell? Leave me alone!"

Kaiba felt his anger eat away at his remaining patience. What the hell was this woman's problem? Couldn't she see that they were in the middle of something? "Whatever," he mumbled. It wasn't like he cared or anything.

* * *

"Greetings, Domino High! I'm your principal, Mr. Fuji! But feel free to call me Principal Fuji! Or Mr. Fuji! Or just plain old Fuji!" exclaimed the principal as he launched into his warm welcome. He seemed very chipper and optimistic about the new school year.

"What the heck is this guy on?" Joey muttered under his breath. "How can anyone be that excited about school?"

"I just hope he doesn't start rambling for hours on end like he did last year," said Duke from behind him. "We missed nearly half our classes that day."

"Not the mention the other teachers snuck out," added Yugi.

"I don't care what anyone says. I would rather be in class than listen to him all day," said Tristan as he groaned.

Mr. Fuji suddenly burst into laughter. "I'm going to make this short this year. Apparently, I went too long last year and cut into your class time. Forgive me."

"Ya think?" Joey sighed. Couldn't they get this over with already?

"Anyway, I hope everyone aspires to the challenges that they will face this year. Life is filled with unexpected experiences. Take advantage of that and live out your high school years with no regrets. Dismissed!"

Kaiba rose with his class as they headed back to homeroom. No regrets, huh? Did he regret anything in the years he'd been in high school? Sure, he didn't have friends, had never joined a club, or participated in any of the school events, but would he regret that later on?

Something tugged at his mind as he thought this over. This was his last year of high school. After this, everyone would go their separate ways. And what had he done to make his life here worthwhile? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Perhaps he should change that.

* * *

When they returned to homeroom, Mr. Chie slammed his hands on his desk, papers fluttering to the floor as his eyes widened. "I remember!"

Everyone paused, unsure if their teacher was having some sort of mental breakdown.

"Remember what?" Yugi inquired carefully, a hesitant smile on his face.

"We have two new transfer students who have started here today. They're in this class. We should have them introduce themselves," stated Mr. Chie.

Kaiba's head snapped up. That was right. Those two from this morning; the one who kept hanging all over the mutt and the other one. Perhaps he could gain a little more information on them.

"My name is Willow Bane," announced one of the newcomers as she rose from her seat. "I just transferred here from Rintama High and I hope to get along well with everyone."

"And I'm Nessa Naka. I'm also from Rintama High and I hope we get along just fine. But for all you girls out there, lay off Joey! He's mine!" she growled as she narrowed her eyes at any potential rivals.

"Well, thank you for that. The both of you may be seated," said Mr. Chie.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes at Nessa. He felt threatened by her for some reason. And he didn't like all the attention she gave to the mutt.

"Oh, and another thing," continued Mr. Chie. "Mr. Kaiba? Miss Bane? Since you two are special circumstance students, you'll be allowed to do your core studies in the library since the rest of your classmates are morons."

"Hey! Ya can't say that! You're a teacher! And we ain't morons!" Joey snapped.

"Really?" questioned Mr. Chie as he crossed his arms. "Why is the sky blue?"

Startled by the question, Joey scrambled for an answer. "Because it's…because water is blue!"

"Wrong. Would anyone else like to try?"

"Solar radiation sunlight is scattered across the atmosphere by a process called diffused sky radiation. The sky is blue because much more short-wave radiation—or blue light—is scattered across the sky than long-wave radiation—or red light," stated Kaiba matter-of-factly.

"What are ya, a computer?" Joey snapped.

"It's common knowledge, mutt."

"Maybe to a robot!"

"I demand to be asked a question!" Nessa exclaimed, raising her hand. "No one calls my hubby a moron!"

Mr. Chie sighed in exasperation. "Final question. I'll even make it easy. Why do we put salt on sidewalks when it snows?"

"Uh," started Nessa. "So…it doesn't taste funny?"

"I take back what I said before about you being morons. You people are all imbeciles!" roared Mr. Chie. "What would make you even think that?"

"Adding salt to snow or ice increases the number of molecules on the ground surface and makes it harder for the water to freeze. Salt can even lower freezing temperatures on sidewalks to 15 degrees from 32 degrees," cut in Willow.

"Correct," sighed Mr. Chie. "As I said before, special circumstance students. You two will have homeroom here, your core classes in the library and you will go to a classroom for your electives. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Mr. Chie," said Kaiba and Willow.

Kaiba glanced over at Willow. Did that mean she was nearly as smart as him? That was unusual. Perhaps he'd find out more later on.

"And Miss Bane? The principal requested your presence, so on the next break, go to his office."

Willow nodded. She glanced over at Kaiba. So that was the infamous Seto Kaiba Joey had spoken so often about. Smiling inwardly, she began looking forward to spending some time with him. Things were going to get interesting.

* * *

Joey was exhausted. And it was only the start of lunch. He kept getting dreamy-eyed stares from many of the girls—guys, too. And it was all because Nessa had made some sort of claim to him during her introduction that morning. It was like girls suddenly realized he was a guy; a guy that was available and being pursued by another girl.

Even some of Kaiba's fangirls had shifted their target from the brunet to him! And that terrified him!

"Is everything all right, Joey?" asked Yami, noticing the drained expression on his friend's face.

"I think so," he replied slowly. The blond watched as all of his friends—including the Yamis—gathered in the hallway. It was going to be great having lunch together.

"Hey, the pharaoh said you suddenly became hot because the girls are after you now," jeered Bakura as he eyed Joey up and down causing the blond to blush. "He might be right."

"I did _not _say that!" Yami immediately protested.

"Hubby!"

"Oh, shit!" Joey freaked and tried hiding behind his friends, yet to no avail. They moved away from him. Damn friends.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! Why'd you run away so fast? I couldn't keep up. Oh, well. At least I'm here now," said Nessa, sidling up to the appalled blond. When her hand met Joey's ass, he flipped out.

"Stop touchin' me, ya perverted freak of nature!" he screeched as he jumped out of her reach. "I don't like ya like that! Didn't I make that clear before?"

"Aw, but I know you didn't mean it," she said, blinking up at him cutely. "We're going to be together forever."

"Like hell we are!" Joey exclaimed, looking as if he'd just swallowed lemon juice. What could he do to get her to stop it with these stupid advances? Well, if words didn't cut it, actions did, right?

In a moment of desperation, he grabbed the closest person next to him, which just so happened to be Duke. The black-haired C.E.O. blanched when he felt Joey pull him into his arms, his lips coming in contact with his own.

Joey peeked out of the corner of his eye to look at Nessa while he kissed Duke. She had a blank expression on her face. Not the reaction he'd been hoping for. So he deepened the kiss. Now she was starting to get a nosebleed. That was definitely not the reaction he'd been hoping for!

"I can work with a threesome," said Nessa as if it wasn't a problem. She sounded a bit too eager.

"What the hell is wrong with ya?" Joey snapped, breaking the kiss.

"What? I'm open to experimentation. And if you want to have a threesome, we'll have a threesome," said Nessa.

"Threesome? I don't even want a twosome!"

"Stop sexually harassing students," announced Willow as she pulled Nessa away from Joey.

"I'm not—what's that thingy on your arm?" Nessa asked, pointing to the yellow armband she wore.

"Principal Fuji put me on the Student Council. I'm the new Vice President," she answered glumly.

"But you're a transfer student."

Willow shrugged. "Due to my grades and the lack of leadership on the council, he thought it best for someone of my standing to…take charge. I haven't met the other members yet. But Principal Fuji did seem a bit panicky. So I agreed. It also means I can keep you in check."

"Huh? But I didn't do anything!" Nessa protested when Willow began dragging her away.

"It's detention for you."

"What? Why?"

"You sexually harassed a student."

"Then why aren't you taking Joey!"

"As I recall, you touched Joey inappropriately," stated Willow.

"But he kissed Duke!"

"Did he? I must have missed that one," she said as she continued dragging Nessa away.

Once they were gone, Duke looked at Joey. "Why'd you kiss me?" he inquired, still feeling stunned.

The blond blushed furiously as he brought his attention back to him. "Sorry! I was tryin' to get her to leave me alone! I thought that maybe if I showed an interest in someone else that she'd back off! But it's only made her more determined!" he yelled as he yanked on his hair.

"Well, let's just go to lunch," Yugi said, trying to calm the unstable blond.

"Yeah. Maybe that's a good idea," Joey replied calmly. It was slightly unnerving.

Kaiba watched as the others led him down the hallway and toward the cafeteria. He'd arrived just in time to see Joey kissing Duke then Willow dragging Nessa away. And then the mutt had acted as if the kiss was meaningless. But was it?

Why did that concern him? Why did he feel anxious? The brunet desperately tried to shake away all these feelings. The mutt couldn't possibly like Duke. He was just using him to deter Nessa.

Nessa. The name made him cringe. But why? He really needed to figure that out.

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Nessa slammed her cell phone down on the school bench, her heart slamming into her chest from hearing Willow's voice suddenly behind her. What was she? A ninja? An alien? No human could tread that softly.

"Nothing," Nessa answered quickly as she stood from the bench. "I'm gonna head to class now."

As Nessa made herself scarce, Willow sat down on the bench and picked up her friend's phone. She stared curiously at the webpage Nessa had left open. Just what was she up to? Apparently, she was going to have to keep a closer eye on her friend. But then again, a night in jail might do her some good.

* * *

"Nessa, please don't do anything illegal," begged Willow as the two of them entered the school that morning.

"I won't."

"Or immoral."

"…I can't make any promises."

"I saw what you had on your phone yesterday. Did you really need to Google how to seduce a man?"

"What? It's not like—oof! Hey! Watch it!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I bump into you?" Kaiba stated sarcastically, glaring at Nessa. He started to believe he hated her more than Yugi. "A freak like you should stay out of the way of people like me. And you should especially stay away from the mutt."

"The who?"

"Joey," Kaiba ground out.

Nessa's face took on one of horror. "How dare you describe my hubby in such a way!"

As the two continued to argue, Willow couldn't help but look on in interest. Then she smiled. Obviously, Kaiba hadn't realized his true feelings for Joey yet. But to pick up on Nessa as being his rival, that was something she hadn't counted on. She'd assumed it'd be harder than that. Joey was in for a surprise.

Nessa narrowed her eyes at Kaiba, matching his glare with one of her own. How dare he demand she leave her hubby alone! It was as if he liked him! Her eyes widened suddenly as that possibility hit her.

"He's mine, bitch," Nessa spat at him.

"No. He is mine," Kaiba snapped back as he stepped closer to her. Then he realized what he'd just said. Why did he say that?

"From this day forward, you and I are romantic rivals!" Nessa declared before storming off.

"Romantic…rivals?" he echoed quietly. What were romantic rivals? He was confused. What the hell had just happened?

"Don't worry," said Willow, only making the brunet even more confused. "You'll get there."

Kaiba stared after her as she walked away. Just what the hell was going on? What had he missed?

* * *

Joey hurriedly made his way to class, only to bump into someone. He sent them both falling to the floor with books and papers flying everywhere. Putting a hand to his head, the blond sat up.

"I'm sorry about…that," he trailed off when he saw who it actually was he'd taken out. It was Kaiba. Could his luck get any worse?

"It's my fault," Kaiba stated robotically. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Spacin' out, huh?"

"Something like that," replied the brunet as he stood. He offered his hand to Joey, which the blond took uneasily. Soon, he was yanked upward and nearly fell into Kaiba.

The smell of cinnamon, so rustic and natural, assaulted Joey's senses. Kaiba smelled both sweet and spicy, an aroma that only came naturally to the brunet. He could just stand like this and inhale him forever.

Joey's eyes widened as he realized how his thoughts had turned. This was _Kaiba_ of all people. Why was he getting weird feelings about Kaiba? And he suddenly liked smelling him? What was wrong with this picture?

"Bye," said Kaiba, regaining Joey's attention.

"Uh, bye." As Joey watched the brunet walk away, he reached down and started picking up his things. That had been the most awkward moment they'd ever shared. Suddenly, the blond thoughts took a frantic turn. "Someone's gone and replaced Kaiba with a robot!"

* * *

Nessa smirked to herself as she started rolling up her skirt. Good thing it was break, otherwise she might not have been able to get away with it. Admiring herself, she took pleasure in the fact that her skirt only just covered her ass. Perfect.

Spotting Joey at his locker, she walked toward him, swaying her hips in a manner she deemed as seductive. When she reached him, she dropped her pencil on the floor. It rolled passed his feet.

Joey looked at her warily. What was she up to now?

"Oops," she said, acting cute as she bent over to pick up the lost pencil. Nessa grinned inwardly. Showing off her ass would definitely get him.

Soon, she felt a hand grope her panty-clad bottom. Success! Standing back up, she turned around to face—

"Who the hell are you?" Nessa exclaimed, staring—appalled—at the strange teen who'd decided to cop a feel.

He winked at her. "I hear you're available," he said, eyeing her up and down. Nessa just knew he was undressing her in his mind. But there was only one person she wanted to do that! No one felt her up without her permission other than her hubby! "So…you wanna find somewhere to be alone?"

Nessa reared back her arm and planted her fist in the guy's face. He fell over, clutching a bleeding nose. "Go blow up a doll," she muttered, spinning on her heel and leaving the bloody mess in her wake.

* * *

Today was just getting weirder and weirder. Joey wanted to skip the rest of school altogether, but he knew that was impossible. It was only the second day back. But having Kaiba acting strangely and Nessa stalking him were grinding on his last nerve of sanity.

He jumped when a hand shot out and reached the doorknob he was about to grab. Looking up, he saw Kaiba staring at him strangely.

"Go ahead," the brunet said, opening the door and beckoning Joey to enter the classroom.

"Thanks," the blond mumbled as he zoomed inside and sat in his seat. He nearly had a heart attack when Kaiba stood in front of his desk and just stared at him. "What're ya doin'?"

"Thinking."

"Okay," Joey replied unsurely. "About what?"

"I'm confused," he admitted.

Well, this conversation wasn't getting anywhere fast. What was with this spaced-out Kaiba? Did he even realize he was talking out loud? "What're ya confused about?"

"What's a romantic rival?" Kaiba asked him seriously.

"A…romantic…rival?" Joey repeated as he felt his face heat up. What the hell kind of a question was that? And why was Kaiba the one asking it?

The brunet nodded in response, urging the blond to continue.

"Uh…why don't ya Google it, ya asshole?" Joey blurted. He just wanted the normal Kaiba back! Was that so much to ask? His sanity was at stake here!

Kaiba seemed to snap out of it. "Maybe I will!" he snapped back. "Stupid mutt!"

Finally. A dog reference. Things were back to normal.

* * *

Nessa grinned lecherously as she snuck into the Boys' Locker Room. She'd waited ever so patiently for everyone to leave so she could find her hubby's gym locker.

Creeping further into the locker room, she practically dove into an aisle when she heard someone walking toward the showers. Peeking around the corner, she saw her hubby—only wearing a towel—heading for said showers.

She could see him naked!

Grinning like never before, she waited until she heard the water running before making her move. As she pulled out her cell, Nessa made sure to set up the camera. The excitement bubbling inside of her was almost too much for her to bear. Slipping into the shower, she stopped herself from jumping the blond by zooming in with her camera instead. But alas, what she wanted to see was not facing her.

"Hubby!" she cried, making Joey spin and nearly fall in the shower.

_Click!_

Joey's eyes widened.

She didn't.

Nessa grinned.

She did.

Hightailing it out of there, Nessa ran as if her life depended on it, but Joey soon caught up to her and tackled her to the ground.

"Gimme the phone," he demanded, struggling to get the cell. Well, as least he was wearing a towel.

But Nessa wouldn't let this opportunity pass her by. She turned slightly and wrapped her legs around Joey's waist and held on for all she was worth, still keeping the cell out of his reach. The blond panted as he fought her grip. Finally, he was able to pin her arms long enough to reach the cell.

"Someone's feeling feisty today," Nessa said, leering at him.

Joey's eyes widened as he realized the position they were in. Yanking the cell out of her hands, he broke from her grasp and stood, smashing the phone on the ground in the process.

"Get out!" he snapped. Nessa looked down at her deceased phone. "Get out!"

She bolted.

But not before she took her hubby's towel with her. As she fled the scene of the crime, Nessa started thinking. Perhaps she should have put the pictures of herself in his gym locker instead on assaulting him. That probably hadn't earned her any good points.

* * *

"Joey, are you okay?" Yugi asked as the blond sat down with his friends in the cafeteria.

Was he okay? He was only being sexually harassed by someone who was totally obsessed with him. And Kaiba was acting all strange and robot-like around him as well. Why wouldn't he be okay? He was fucking dandy! "I'm fine," he answered calmly.

"Are you sure?" continued the small teen.

He was about to respond when he saw Nessa enter the cafeteria. Oh, no. What was he going to do now? Nessa was getting closer…and closer…and veered off to a table near the left.

Releasing his pent up breath, he redirected his attention to his friends and his lunch. "I've been havin' a rough day."

"Was it that weird girl from before?" asked Tristan.

"Yeah."

"What happened with Kaiba?" Yugi asked suddenly.

Joey's eyes widened. Had they noticed? "What do ya mean? Nothin' happened with Kaiba."

"Then why is he staring at you?" added Duke, pointing in the brunet's direction.

When Joey turned to see, he found Kaiba staring at him with that strange look on his face once again. Just what the hell was going on? He couldn't take this anymore! "I have no idea," answered the blond.

Maybe if he ate his lunch, he'd feel better. Yeah. That sounded like a good idea. Picking up his sandwich, he took a bite.

A couple minutes later, however, Nessa got up from her seat and approached them. Joey swallowed his food and stared nervously at her. He was about to tell her off before Nessa's hand reached for his face.

Joey gawked in terror as Nessa's thumb wiped something off his lips. His shock increased when she licked the substance—probably leftovers from his sandwich—off her thumb.

"Indirect kiss! Indirect kiss! Indirect kiss!" his friends crowed.

Joey watched dumbly as Nessa walked away.

Kaiba, on the other hand, glared after her. Why? He still wasn't sure. And the mutt's friends' screaming wasn't helping. What was an indirect kiss, anyway? He supposed he had to Google that, too.

* * *

Nessa batted her eyes at Joey for what seemed like the hundredth time. _I can't deal with this anymore_, the blond thought to himself. _Why me?_

When he started ignoring her, Nessa decided to bring it up a notch. She gave herself the appearance of having an innocent look and when Joey glance back at her, she lowered her eyes and put on an embarrassed smile.

Joey rolled his own eyes and looked back to the front of the class. Yep. Ignoring her was definitely in his best interest.

"Do you need to see the nurse?"

Nessa jumped in her seat, realizing Mr. Chie was talking to her. "No."

"I'm just asking because there seems to be something wrong with your face."

"There's nothing wrong with my face! As you can see, I am perfectly fine!" Nessa hissed, growing on the verge of hysterical.

* * *

"Why am I here again?" asked Willow as she stared at Nessa, who was currently doing stretching exercises. "And what are you doing?"

"I'm preparing myself for my hubby," she answered simply.

"Preparing yourself for what exactly?" Willow questioned, looking perturbed.

"I saw him go into the bathroom a second ago, so I'm gonna wait until he comes back out before I start," Nessa replied.

Soon enough, Joey came out of the bathroom, where he was immediately grabbed by Nessa and slammed up against a wall. He was about to attack when he realized who it was. "What the hell do ya want now?"

Nessa grinned as she started to play some music. Then she started dancing provocatively while singing to _Blah Blah Blah_ by Ke$ha. While she danced to the music, she failed to notice Joey fleeing.

"Where'd he go?" Nessa asked after she turned back around to face where Joey had once been standing.

"He bolted awhile ago," answered Willow.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I figured I'd just let you get it out of your system," she replied. "You ready for class?"

Nessa dropped her head in defeat. "I guess so."

* * *

School was finally over! Joey couldn't believe it! He'd made it through the day! He could finally go home in peace!

Scratch that. Kaiba and Nessa were staring each other down at the end of the hall. It looked like they were arguing.

"He's mine, asshole!" screeched Nessa, glaring at Kaiba viciously.

"Leave him alone," growled Kaiba. "He doesn't even like you."

"He's just playing hard to get."

"He ran away from you!"

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"Everything!" Kaiba snapped, much to Joey's surprise. "He is mine so back off!" The brunet froze. He'd said it again. Why had he said that?

"Kaiba?"

The brunet's head snapped around to see Joey staring at him, a look of confusion on his face. Shit. Joey had heard everything. How was he supposed to explain something he didn't even understand himself?

"Kaiba?" Joey repeated.

"What I meant by that was that Joey is mine to pester and annoy. We argue all the time and you keep butting in," Kaiba said as he came up with an excuse as he turned his attention back to Nessa. He hoped it would stall any further questions. "How can I put him back in his place if you keep getting in the way?"

"So it's a pride thing?" Joey pressed, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Of course," Kaiba said, locking in his trademark smirk. "If you insult me and this…_woman_ gets in the way before I can respond, it's like I've lost. And I can't have that."

Nessa narrowed her eyes at the brunet. Sure, it sounded like a reasonable answer. But there seemed to be more to it than that. "You guys are like rivals then?" she asked.

"Yes," Kaiba answered quickly. Too quickly.

"Then what does that make us?" Nessa inquired as she crossed her arms.

Kaiba paused. "Rivals?"

It was Nessa's turn to smirk. "I guess I was right about what I said to you earlier about being rivals then, huh?"

What she said to him earlier? What had she—that's right. She'd said romantic rivals. But that wasn't the case. He wasn't even sure what she'd meant by that. "I don't understand."

"We're fighting over Joey's attention toward us, right? That's kind of what it means. But if you're still at a loss, then you're not worth my energy," taunted Nessa. "Come back when you've figured it out."

Joey watched as that strange look appeared on Kaiba's face again. Just how had Nessa gotten into his head?

* * *

Willow sighed as she looked at Nessa, who currently sat on the wall surrounding the school's courtyard. Something had happened to make her dawdle after school. What? She didn't know.

Sighing once more, Willow gave in. "Make it quick. I need to get to the Student Council room for a meeting."

"…"

"I take it your seducing didn't go as planned?"

"No!" Nessa wailed. "And I didn't count on having any competition either! Even if he doesn't realize it yet!"

Willow's eyes widened at Nessa's perceptiveness. She'd actually noticed? That was surprising. "Have you even confessed to Joey? Without trying to molest him in the process?"

"Well, no. But there's no fun in it if I just confess to him."

"And what about your competition?"

"Stupid asshole," muttered Nessa. "I hadn't counted on a romantic rival. But I don't think he knows he likes Joey that way…yet. But I can tell."

"I wonder how Joey would feel about that."

"About what? The asshole liking him?" Nessa burst out laughing. "Yeah. I don't think so."

_You'd be surprised_, Willow thought. "If you really care about Joey, you'll take his feelings into consideration before you do anything rash. Do you understand?"

But Willow's advice fell on deaf ears. It seemed Nessa had already come up with a plan if the sadistic grin on her face was any indication. Things probably weren't looking too good for Joey right about now.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Kaiba paced back and forth in front of Mokuba's room, debating on whether or not he should ask his younger brother for help. It was supposed to be the other way around. Mokuba was supposed to ask _him_ about things. Steeling himself, he knocked on Mokuba's door.

"Come in," came his brother's soft reply.

Opening the door, Kaiba stepped inside and nearly slammed the door shut in angst. His nerves were getting to him. "I need to talk to you about something."

Mokuba eyed his brother warily. The brunet seemed to be…was embarrassed the right word? His brother was embarrassed! He could see it now! "If it's about the birds and the bees, I learned about that at school already. I know everything there is to know."

"It's not about that!" Kaiba snapped, his face only showing a hint of red. "It's about something else!"

"Then what is it about?"

Kaiba paused, trying to find the right words. "What's a romantic rival?"

Mokuba raised an eyebrow. "You should know the answer to that. You read all those—"

"I know what I read, but that's not the case here!" the brunet cut in. "Why would someone call _me_ their romantic rival?"

Now things were getting interesting. "Wait, someone called you their romantic rival?"

"Yes," Kaiba seethed as he pulled on his hair. "I don't understand it."

"Does that mean you like someone?" Mokuba asked excitedly. "What happened?"

"This…woman who keeps hanging onto the mutt at school called me her romantic rival. And I don't know why."

"Uh, well a rival is one of two or more people striving to reach or obtain something that only one can possess," started Mokuba slowly. "Are you guys trying to possess Joey or something?"

"Look, she said that the mutt was hers and I corrected her. That was it."

"What did you say exactly?"

"I said the mutt was mine," Kaiba answered quietly.

"And why did you say that?"

"I don't know! Because he just is! But it's not romantic in the least!"

Mokuba buried his face in his hands. He couldn't believe it. His brother was stupid. "How do you feel about Joey?"

"…"

"Okay, how do you feel about this person hanging around Joey?"

Kaiba let out a deep sigh. "Angry, irritated, wary, inpatient, pis—"

"Okay! I get it. You don't like her," interceded Mokuba before his brother whipped out a thesaurus to continue. "I think you have to figure out why her being with Joey makes you feel that way first. Then maybe you'll figure out why she said that."

"Hn. Maybe you're right."

"Of course I'm right," Mokuba said with a grin.

"Oh, one more thing," continued Kaiba. "What's an indirect kiss?"

The younger Kaiba choked on his breath. "Huh? Why do you need to know that? Wait! Did you do that?"

"What? No! That woman did it to the mutt!"

"Okay, a romantic rival I can deal with. But an indirect kiss? Use the internet. That's what it's there for," said Mokuba. How had things gotten so awkward?

"Fine. I suppose I shouldn't have asked you such things anyway," Kaiba stated before leaving his brother's room.

Mokuba watched him go. When he was gone, the young boy collapsed on his bed, his thoughts drifting to various things.

So his brother was a romantic rival, huh? That was interesting. And it seemed like his brother was interested in Joey, too. He wondered how long it would take him to realize that for himself.

Well, if things took too long, Mokuba could always provide assistance. He was good at things like that.

* * *

"What did you do?" Willow asked as she took in Nessa's pale expression when she shut her new cell phone.

"Nothing much," she laughed worriedly in response.

"Nessa."

"Yes?" she replied as she jumped. She never really liked it when Willow used that tone.

"What did you do?"

"I…I kinda…made an…oops."

"An oops?"

"Yeah…"

"Would you just spit it out already?"

"Okay! Well, uh, you know how Kaiba has fangirls?"

"Yes."

"And you know how Joey got some recent fangirls at school?"

"Only because you declared that he was yours in class and incited some primal defense mechanism in them. Go on." Willow didn't like where this was going.

"I…uh…made a few calls to some of the girls and asked if they'd help me keep Kaiba away from Joey…so that I can have him…for myself."

"And?"

Nessa took a deep breath. "ALL THE GIRLS AT SCHOOL SPLIT UP INTO THREE GROUPS AND THEY ALL WANT TO KILL ME!"

Willow blinked a few times at her outburst before trying to get clarification. "Would you care to elaborate?"

"The girls at school have divided themselves into three separate fangirl groups, also known as fan clubs," Nessa began as if she was giving a lecture. "Fan Club One consists of all the girls obsessed with Seto Kaiba. You know. The ones who declare their love every two seconds and wanna have his baby?"

"I get the idea."

"Fan Club Two consists of all girls—and a few guys—obsessed with Joey!" she wailed piteously. "They want him for themselves!"

"Are you in this group?"

"Hell no!" she roared. "Hubby is mine! I'm not sharing him with anyone!"

Willow resisted the urge to literally knock some sense into her. "So what's the last group?"

Being asked this question, a dark aura seemed to surround Nessa. "Fan Club Three consists of all the girls obsessed with…well, they're obsessed with getting that asshole and my hubby together! Wait! Where are you going?"

"School. We might want to get there early so you can hide," answered Willow.

"Hide? Why would I hide?"

"Because Kaiba, Joey, and those fangirls are going to come after you, so you should probably lay low for awhile."

"For how long?"

"Until we graduate."

"Okay…HEY!"

* * *

Kaiba entered school solemnly. There were hardly any people around since it was still early, which meant he would have time to think over what he'd talked about with Mokuba this morning.

And all during the previous night, he'd done nothing but think about what Nessa had said to him yesterday. He'd just blurted that the mutt was his—twice—and Nessa had claimed him as his romantic rival. He knew what a romantic rival was; he just didn't know why she'd called him that. What would make her think such a thing?

This brought him to the other thoughts that kept plaguing him. How did he feel about Joey? How did he feel about Nessa wanting Joey? The second question he was able to answer; it made him angry. But the first question…

Entering the classroom, Kaiba anxiously took his seat. He stared down at his desk, his hands tracing invisible patterns on its surface. He had to find the answer to that question. If he could, maybe the confusing situation he was in would finally clear up.

"Um, Kaiba?"

The brunet raised his head, only to come face to…chest with someone wearing a t-shirt…with his own face printed on it; the slogan _Team Seto Kaiba_ was written beneath it. Lifting his gaze, his eyes came in contact with one of his fangirls. Inwardly groaning, he put a harsh glare on his face and stared at her sternly. "What do you want?" he spat.

"We want to make sure that nothing bad happens to our precious Seto Kaiba," she said as a bunch of other girls soon surrounded her, all wearing the same damned _Team Seto Kaiba_ t-shirt.

Knowing full well he was going to regret this, he stood up and faced them. "I strongly suggest that you morons leave me alone."

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Kaiba," piped up another fangirl.

"We're taking matters into our own hands now," said another.

Kaiba took a step back. This was _not _good.

* * *

Joey arrived at school and briskly made his way up the stairs. He needed to find Kaiba. He didn't know what the hell was going on between him and Nessa, but he really wanted to find out. Those two being at war with each other were bound to leave him trapped in the middle somehow. Couldn't he live out the rest of his time at high school in peace?

He entered homeroom and made toward the desk Kaiba should have been sitting in. He wasn't there. Well, that was weird. Kaiba was _always_ here early. Where could he be?

"Joey?"

The blond turned around and immediately had to make a double take. "What the hell?" he muttered more to himself than the girl standing before him. Why was she wearing a t-shirt with his face plastered all over it? And why did it say _Team Joey Wheeler_? And how the hell had she gotten a picture of him in the first place?

This type of behavior he would have expected from Nessa, not some random chick he didn't even know.

"Uh, can I help ya?" he started, trying to at least be polite.

She smiled sweetly at him. "What are _you_ doing here so early?"

"I was…lookin' for Kaiba. Do ya know where he is?" Joey flinched when the girl suddenly glared at him.

"No!" she screeched.

What the heck was wrong with this chick? "What do ya mean no?" he asked, panicking just a bit by her unexpected response.

"Get him!"

Joey really wished he hadn't come to school today, because when he saw a horde of girls entering the classroom—all wearing _Team Joey Wheeler_ t-shirts—he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

Or these girls. Preferably these girls.

* * *

"Would you let me go already?" Willow groaned, trying to pry Nessa off her. As soon as they had gotten to school, she'd latched onto her like a leech. Nessa was afraid of fangirls. Who knew?

"We need to stick together," insisted Nessa.

"Why? They're after you, not me."

The psycho brunette just tightened her grip. "That's why we have to stay together," she whined.

"Let go! It's starting to look like you're groping me."

"I'm not groping you!"

"You're getting pretty close," Willow snapped, trying to detach Nessa from her person. "Please let go? I need to use the bathroom."

"Why didn't you go before we left?"

"Because _someone_ made a Kaiba voodoo doll last night and kept trying to drown it in the toilet. It's not working anymore thanks to you."

"Oh," Nessa replied quietly. "Do you think it worked, though?"

"Remind me to take a sledgehammer to your toilet after school," she growled, gripping Nessa's wrists before squeezing just right to loosen her grip. "Stay here. I'll be done in a bit."

"But—"

"You'll be fine," said Willow. "And if you're not here when I come back, then I'll assume you've been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Nessa gasped. "You'll come find me, right? Right?"

But Willow didn't answer. She'd gone into the bathroom.

Looking around her nervously, Nessa eagerly awaited her friend's return. But what if she was kidnapped _before_ then?

"_You_."

Nessa froze at the coldness present in that one word. Slowly turning around, two words came to mind in response. _Oh, shit!_

* * *

Kaiba blearily opened his eyes. Where the hell was he? And which one of those girls had hit him from behind?

Getting to his feet, the brunet looked around. Was he in a room down in the basement of the school? And if so, where were those crazy fangirls?

Trying to be as quiet as possible, he peered through the dimly lit area. It appeared to be empty, at least for now. Kaiba listened intensely for a minute before determining that the coast was clear. Reaching for the only door in the room, he opened it and slipped out.

Then he ran for dear life.

Who'd have thought his fangirls would have posted guards?

* * *

Joey felt like he'd just been taken captive by a bunch of savage amazons thirsting for blood. Whose blood, he had absolutely no idea, but it was clear that they were after someone.

Sure, it might seem like they were good-natured and wanted to protect him from whatever evil might be out there. But did they have to tie his freaking hands behind his back?

Struggling against his bindings, he soon heard high-pitched shrieks from outside the room he was being held prisoner. That alerted the girls who were with him. And within the blink of an eye, they bolted, chasing after whoever had decided to run past, leaving him all alone.

Finally wriggling himself free from his bonds, Joey got to his feet and ran toward the door. Chancing a glance, he saw that no one was around. But where on earth was he? Was he even in the school?

"Ah!" Joey yelped when he felt someone slam into him.

"Mutt?"

"Kaiba?"

They stared at each other mutely until a feminine shout alerted them into action.

"Quick! This way," Kaiba hissed, taking Joey by the wrist and dragging him over to a door. He threw it open and shoved the blond inside. When they both made it in, he shut the door.

"Oh, yeah! This is a great hidin' spot! A supply closet?" Joey whispered frantically.

"Shut up! They'll hear you," Kaiba seethed through his teeth.

"Why don't—"

Joey didn't get a chance to finish what he was saying. Kaiba cupped his hand over the blond's mouth and yanked him to his chest. Joey freaked out by such close contact. And it felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. He wondered if Kaiba could feel it.

A sudden commotion outside the closet made the both of them tense. It went on for what seemed like hours. When the commotion ceased, they were able to breathe normally again.

Well, at least Kaiba was.

Joey clawed at the hand covering his mouth. When he felt the hand slip away, he let out a shaky sigh. "That was close."

"Yes, it was," replied Kaiba.

And then they just stood there in the darkened supply closet, unsure of what to do next. Joey was the first to break the silence. "So, um, do ya know where we are?" he asked sheepishly.

"The basement."

"The basement? What basement?"

"The school's."

"We have a basement?"

"Yes, we have a basement!" Kaiba growled. "And those crazy fangirls kidnapped me!"

"Yeah, that kinda happened to me, too. I was ambushed by fangirls. I didn't even know I had fangirls. They wore weird t-shirts with me on them and everythin'."

"Hm," started Kaiba as he began to contemplate their situation. "Perhaps we should stay here for awhile until things die down."

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air, making their blood run cold. Yep. Staying in the closet sounded like a really good idea.

* * *

Nessa tried to scream a second time, but someone shoved a gag into her mouth, silencing her. She desperately struggled against her bonds, but the group of girls who'd taken her hostage and tied her up had done a phenomenal job. Had the situation been different, she might have commended them.

But that wasn't the case right now!

"What should we do with her?" one girl asked, glancing menacingly at her.

"Well, we can't keep her down here forever," said another. "I want to see Kaiba and Joey together as much as the next person, but I do believe we need to do something about her."

"Let's just dump her in one of the slummier parts of town."

"But she could get hurt."

"At least she'd be out of the way."

Nessa tried to gulp, but the gag prevented her from doing so. These girls were more psychotic than she was. And that was saying something! She was definitely in a crap-load of trouble.

_Boom!_

Everyone shrieked—except Nessa—and stared at where the door had once been. It now lay ripped from its hinge, revealing a very ticked off Willow standing in the doorway.

"What do you think you're doing? You can't just barge in here!" shouted one of the fangirls.

"Don't even think about getting in my face. I am not in the mood," Willow ground out threateningly. "My irritability has reached its max, so do not mess with me. Now where is Nessa?"

Said girl's eyes widened as tears of joy ran down her face. She was being rescued!

"That's none of your business," answered one of the fangirls.

"And what makes you think we have her, anyway?" asked another.

"Oh, please. I know that scream anywhere," Willow stated exasperatedly. "Now kindly hand her over before I tear this place apart."

"She's over there!" blurted a fangirl, who'd been hiding in a far-off corner.

Willow looked over in the direction she was pointing and spotted Nessa. She stormed over to her, picked her up, and tossed her over her shoulder like a ragdoll before exiting the room with a determined fashion to her every step. When she felt they were far enough away, she dropped Nessa to her feet and began untying her.

With the gag finally out of her mouth, Nessa began to speak but was cut off by Willow. "How do you get yourself into these messes?"

"Are you mad at me?" Nessa inquired as she cringed slightly, fully expecting her friend to blow up.

"No, but you definitely make my life interesting."

_Thump!_

Both girls turned toward the sound. It was coming from the door next to them. Hoping that it wasn't another fangirl mob, Willow yanked open the door. Kaiba and Joey came stumbling out of the supply closet.

"Don't tell me you two were dragged down here too?" Willow grumbled. After Joey nodded, her expression grew furious.

Joey staggered backward. It was like seeing a female version of Kaiba. But his thoughts were soon interrupted by two fangirls gangs: the Kaiba horde and the Joey horde. The third group came along not too far behind them.

"Get away from our—"

"Quiet!" Willow snapped, pulling off a glare that even Kaiba couldn't muster. "I will not condone the kidnapping of our students! Let alone tying them up and gagging them! What made any of you think this kind of behavior was okay?"

"This doesn't involve you!" one of the fangirls spat. "Team Seto Kaiba all the way!"

"Team Joey Wheeler!"

"Team Seto and Joey!"

Willow and the others looked on as the three fan clubs began squabbling amongst themselves. Kaiba and Joey slowly began backing away while Nessa hid behind them.

"Enough!" Willow roared. "If you stop fighting for two seconds we might be able to come to an agreement!"

Joey's eyes widened. Agreement? What kind of agreement? She wasn't going to let them take them hostage again, was she?

"What kind of agreement?" a fangirl asked as they quieted down. Joey inwardly cheered that she'd asked his question.

Willow crossed her arms. "If all of you abide by some stipulations, I will allow you to establish your fan clubs as official clubs of the school. I'll see to it that it's done. Are you interested?"

The fangirls looked at each other before speaking up. "What are the conditions?"

"No harm is to come to any of the students. This especially includes Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler, and Nessa Naka. Also, nothing illegal, nothing immoral, and nothing lascivious."

"What does lascivious mean?"

"Lewd," answered Willow. "Conduct yourselves in a manner much like that of regular club members. And no fighting amongst the other established clubs. If there are issues to be dealt with amongst the clubs, those will be settled during school events, such as the Sports Festival or the Cultural Festival. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Fine. Fill out the appropriate paperwork to establish yourselves as a club and bring it to the Student Council room by the end of the day. Got it?"

They nodded again and dispersed.

"And as for you three," Willow continued as she rounded on them. "Are you all right? They didn't do anything too extreme, did they?"

"Not really," Joey admitted. "But are ya sure they'll leave us alone after this?"

"No."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Then why did you allow them to establish themselves as club members?"

Willow just shrugged. "I figured this would appease all sides for the time being. Rivalries will flare up again sooner or later. But if they settle it during school events, it should work out fine. Unless they drag you guys into the mix as some sort of weird prize or trophy. But we'll deal with that when the time comes."

"How can you be so cavalier about this?" Kaiba demanded.

"Well, if it bothers you that much, I can always allow you to create the Anti-Fangirl Club. But you'd need at least three members to start off with and a teacher willing to be your supervisor."

"Wait a sec!" Joey cut in. "Don't the fangirl clubs have to do that too then? Get a supervisor and stuff?"

Willow nodded.

"What teacher would agree to do that? That means if they don't get a supervisor, they'll come after us again!" Joey cried, tugging on his hair.

"You'd be surprised," Nessa said with a nervous laugh. "There are actually quite a few teachers who'd easily side with each of those groups."

Kaiba pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt an impending headache coming on. He'd never be able to look at his teachers the same way again, now that he knew some might be fantasizing about him.

"That's just creepy," Joey groaned.

Willow let out a light chuckle. "Come on. Let's get to class. We'll be late."

* * *

Joey flopped onto his bed when he got home, exhausted from what the day had given him. He'd meant to talk to Kaiba about his thing with Nessa, but all of that had been shot down when those fangirls had popped up.

But Kaiba and Nessa hadn't argued at all today, so maybe things had sorted themselves out somehow. That was a relief. He hadn't really wanted to be caught in the middle of whatever argument they'd had anyway.

So he didn't need to talk to Kaiba after all. But for some reason, that thought disappointed him more than anything else.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Friday. The greatest day of all seven days of the week. And it was last period, which Kaiba was immensely grateful for. He wasn't sure if he could handle anymore Fan Club battles breaking out during class. Even Willow's glares had lost their muster. School needed to end.

And it needed to end now.

"Class, I have an announcement to make," said Mr. Chie. "Actually, our class rep has an announcement to make. Miss Bane?"

"I don't get it," started Willow as she stood and headed toward the front of the class. "I'm already Vice President. I shouldn't be class rep."

"You really expect anyone else in this class to handle all of the responsibilities that come with being a class representative?" inquired Mr. Chie. "That's what I thought. Deal with it."

Willow groaned. "Fine," she mumbled. "Well, Principal Fuji decided that we should have a Spirit Week, which will occur next week. The Student Council took his ideas for this event under careful consideration.

"However, since the current president is a complete and utter moron, he gave his seal of approval before anything could be looked over properly. So next week will definitely not go as planned. I'm warning you now. Things will—beyond a doubt—get out of hand and chaos will ensue."

"I think I'm rubbing off on you," Mr. Chie muttered.

"Anyway, I have a handout that lists the days for Spirit Week and what the requirements are," she said as she passed out them out. "There will be lunchtime special events that will only be announced at the start of each lunch period. Participation is optional. And there aren't really any restrictions."

The class blinked at her. Normally, the only people who would dress up for this sort of thing were the members of the Student Council. They were obliged to do so; they were the Student Council.

Kaiba scoffed at the idea of dressing up for this Spirit Week event. He wouldn't be caught dead dressing up in some stupid outfit.

"And if you're thinking of not dressing up, there's a catch," Willow stated, giving them all a glare. "If you'll look at the little footnote at the bottom of your handout, you'll see that it's mandatory to dress up. Dressing up for each day of Spirit Week will be worth twenty-five percent of this term's grade."

"But this has no educational value!" blurted Kaiba, looking furious. Even if he got A's on everything, not dressing up would give him straight C's! "Why was this approved?"

"You can thank President Rei for that," Willow snapped. "I'm never letting my eyes off of that idiot again."

Kaiba clenched his jaw shut. Then he had no other choice. He had to dress up with the rest of them or his grades would suffer!

Suddenly, something smacked him in the back of the head. Turning around in his seat, he glared at the perpetrator. "What the hell do you want?" he hissed.

"So touchy," Nessa taunted as she smirked back at him. "I propose a challenge."

"And what makes you think I'd accept a challenge from someone like you?"

"Because I'm bored, Spirit Week sounds like fun, and I hear that you never back down from a challenge. Your ego won't allow it.

Kaiba twitched. "I'm listening."

Nessa grinned. "I think we should use this Spirit Week as an opportunity to express our rivalry! We dress up and see who wears it best. Want in?"

It was Kaiba's turn to smirk. "Fine."

* * *

Kaiba stared at the sheet of paper in his hands that listed the days of Spirit Week. His mind began mulling over the events that had led to this moment; he wasn't really sure how he felt about it.

One, he would be embarrassed to no end. Two, he didn't have a choice in the matter. Three, he never backed down from a challenge.

Well, he had decided to live the rest of his high school days with no regrets, but still. Why did things have to turn out this way?

And why had he agreed to that stupid challenge? What was he supposed to wear for something like this?

Desperate times called for desperate measures. And now was a desperate time.

"Mokuba!"

* * *

"I know it's Pajama Day, but I don't think you're allowed to go to school dressed like that," commented Willow as she took in Nessa's appearance.

"Why not? There are no restrictions. It says so on that paper thingy you handed out last week," she replied, straightening her outfit as they approached the school.

"Can you even consider those pajamas?"

Nessa glared at her, hands on her hips. "It's sleepwear!" she insisted.

"But—"

"No! I'm going all out to seduce my hubby! And if that means wearing a leather and fishnet teddy, then I'm wearing a leather and fishnet teddy!"

"Whatever. And what did you say to Kaiba?" asked Willow.

"Huh? Why?" Nessa responded. She'd forgotten all about him.

"He's glaring at you." Willow pointed behind her. "Take a look."

Nessa felt her jaw come unhinged when she saw Kaiba. He looked…hot. And that was a lot coming from her!

His hair was mussed up boyishly as if he had just gotten out of bed. He wore a loose white tank top that exposed his collarbone and he had on a pair of pajama pants that hung low on his hips, revealing just a little bit of skin to entice any onlookers.

And he was coming her way.

"I thought we were supposed to see who wore it best, not who wore it sleaziest," Kaiba started as he sneered at her. "What are you trying to do?"

Nessa bristled. "I'm trying to seduce Joey!"

"And you think that will work?"

"Why wouldn't it?" she retaliated.

"Have you ever heard the expression 'less is more'?"

"Yeah. Why do you think I'm wearing this?"

"That's not what it means!"

"Hey, guys. What's…up?" Joey paused when he noticed Kaiba and Nessa glaring at each other. Apparently, their heated animosity toward each other wasn't finished yet. But should he step in or what?

He turned to face Willow so that he could get her insight on the situation, but burst out laughing instead. "Ya got enough bunnies on ya?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Willow snapped. She was sporting a light blue tank top with a cartoon bunny on the front, pajama pants with the same cartoon bunny on them, bunny slippers, and she was holding a stuffed bunny.

"Nothin'," Joey snorted, which only earned him a smack in the face with the bunny plushie. "All right. Don't start," he teased.

"Then stop making fun of me. I like bunnies, okay?"

Nessa and Kaiba halted their rant, their attention drifting toward Willow and Joey. Nessa nearly choked while Kaiba felt his brain fizzle out. Joey wore a snug, v-cut muscle tee with a pair of shorts and sneakers. The clothing hugged his body, showing off his toned physique.

Kaiba's heart began beating erratically as he felt heat flood his cheeks. He knew what this type of feeling meant, but it couldn't be possible, right? Swallowing thickly, the strange thought swirling in his mind began eating away at his remaining resistance.

There was no denying it anymore. He was attracted to the mutt.

"Ha!" Joey cried, finally managing to snatch the bunny plushie and running off with it.

"Give it back!" Willow shouted, chasing after him. She promptly tackled him to the ground and pinned him. But it didn't last long.

Joey flipped Willow off him, got up, threw her over his shoulder, and started spinning them in a circle. About a minute later, he put her back down on her feet and gave her the plushie. She grabbed the poor stuffed animal and hit Joey in the arm playfully. They laughed and started heading toward the school.

"Hey! Wait up!" Nessa cried as she raced after them.

Kaiba, on the other hand, remained where he was as he tried to sort his feelings out. Seeing Joey dressed like that had made him blush, had made his heart beat even faster than ever. That was attraction, wasn't it? Was that the reason he always picked fights with him? For the attention?

"I like Joey," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. The realization, much to his surprise, didn't bother him as much as he thought it would. In fact, he felt somewhat relieved. But he also felt upset, depressed even. Why?

_He hates me_, Kaiba thought to himself. _Joey hates me. He'd never think of me any other way. What do I do? And why does it hurt so much now that I know?_

* * *

"Anyone know what the lunch activity's supposed to be?" asked Tristan as he leaned against the wall of the gym. It had been cleared out for the Pajama Day event.

"I don't know. Maybe they'll make the announcement soon," Yugi replied excitedly."

"Uh, oh," Joey sighed.

"Huh? What?" responded Duke.

"Looks like she's mad," he continued, pointing out Willow, who was dragging another student by the collar of his shirt. "Who the heck is that guy?"

"That's our Student Council President, Rei," said Yugi.

"Again, who?"

"Good afternoon, everyone," Willow announced at the front of the gym, glaring at the person beside her. He was tall and quite the looker, but there seemed to be a few screws loose somewhere. "The Student Council President would like to say a few words."

"'Sup. I'm Rei and…what am I supposed to say again?" he asked as he leaned down to listen to Willow. "Oh, right. We're gonna have our event start soon and…what was it again?"

"Oh, for the love of—move!" hissed Willow as she shoved him out of the way. "Today's event will be a pillow fight. But not just any pillow fight. This will play out somewhat like dodge ball. And it will be boys versus girls.

"The girls will be on one side of the gym while the boys will be on the other side. Before you on the floor is a red line. Neither team can pass this line. If you do, you're out. Each side will also have a bunch of small pillows to start out with. Throw them as hard as you can to hit your opponents. If you do, they're out. We'll continue this until there is a winner.

"However, thanks to President Rei, there is no prize for the winner," Willow continued with a hardened expression. "But there is a penalty for the losers, thanks—again—to President Rei. The losing team will have to run a lap around the track in front of the entire school in their underwear."

"WHAT?" Tea roared, glaring murderously at the teenage boys around her. They all seemed excited over the prospect of seeing the girls in their underwear.

"I did not approve of this penalty," Willow seethed. "And I will see to it that there is no man left standing after this pillow fight is finished. I will protect the girls of this school if it's the last thing I do. Now everyone get on your rightful side!"

As everyone split off into the two groups, Joey huddled up to his friends. "Ya know they're gonna kill us, right?"

"What? The girls?" Tristan chuckled. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"But they've got Tea, Willow, and Nessa on their side!" the blond rambled. "Willow and Nessa both used to play softball and Tea's got good ass aim! Plus, they're pissed!"

The guys turned to look at the other side of the gym. Sure enough, Tea, Willow, and Nessa stood at the front of the group, hands clenching and unclenching as the waited for the event to begin.

Kaiba stared at the girls, his mind turned upside down. He didn't want to run around the track in his underwear. And he really didn't want to know the consequences of what would happen if the guys beat the girls. Either way, they were screwed.

"All right, peeps!" announced Rei. "The teachers are the refs, so listen to them and whatever. Let the battle begin!"

_Whap! Whap! Whap!_

Yugi, Yami and Tristan were already out.

_Whap!_

Duke came next.

"Come on guys! They're girls for crying out loud!" someone shouted.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" snapped Tea.

"You boys are going down," added Willow.

"Prepare to die!" cried Nessa.

"Was that really necessary?" inquired Willow.

"I thought it was funny!"

Tea sighed. "Talk later! Take them out!"

About fifteen minutes in and there were only three people on each side. The boys' team had Kaiba, Joey, and Rei. The girls' team had Nessa, Tea, and Willow.

"You know, for a lazy guy, Rei's pretty intense on the battlefield," observed Nessa.

"He hasn't even thrown a pillow! He's just wandering around!" snapped Willow.

"Then take him out!"

_Whap!_

_Whap!_

"Rei and Tea are out!" announced Mr. Chie.

"You're going down, Kaiba!" Nessa yelled.

"I will not be taken down by the likes of you!" the brunet yelled back, tossing a pillow at Nessa's face. She failed to dodge it.

"Nessa is out!"

Willow grabbed a pillow in each hand. "I will not let you win," she ground out.

"Oh, yeah?" said Joey. "Well—ah, shit!"

She started laughing. "Did you just realize that I have all the pillows? All you can do now is run!" she shouted as she hurled the pillows in each of her hands full force at Kaiba and Joey. She nailed them both right in the face.

"The remaining boys are out! The girls' team wins!" said Mr. Chie.

"Did I forget to mention I'm ambidextrous?" Willow cackled as she sauntered off toward the girls. "Have fun out on the track, boys! It's nippy today!"

"I hate you," Kaiba snarled as he glared at Rei, who lay on his back on the gym floor; he was staring up at the ceiling.

"Hate's such a strong word, you know?" replied Rei. "Hey, did we win?"

"No, we didn't win!" snapped Joey. "I don't wanna run in my underwear!"

"Man, that's too bad."

Kaiba grabbed Rei by the collar and shook him. "How did you become Student Council President?"

"I dunno. Chicks like me, I guess," he replied.

* * *

"This is humiliating," Kaiba groaned as he jogged around the track with the rest of his male classmates.

"Well, it could be worse," Joey panted next to him.

_Don't look, don't look, don't look_, he said to himself, not wanting to risk what would happen if he saw the blond in his underwear. "And how could it be worse?"

"It could be rainin'. We could've been doin' this naked. Or—"

"I get it," Kaiba cut in. "I wonder how bad tomorrow's event will be."

"Knowin' how this Rei guy approved of this, ya never know."

"This breeze is awesome!" cackled Rei as he jogged past them.

"Dude, why are ya naked?" Joey exclaimed as he averted his eyes.

"Huh? Oh! I went totally commando today. You guys should try it sometime!" he called back as he continued to run. "Freedom!"

* * *

Nessa was very proud of the outfit she'd created for Rock Day. All the other students had gathered in front of the school, eager to see how people were dressed. And it was turning out to be quite exciting.

"It's true!" she heard Bakura protest. She turned to see Bakura and Ryou squabbling with each other.

"Bakura, that is not what Rock Day is," insisted Ryou.

"If Wikipedia says it, then it's true!" he snapped. "And it said that Rock Day is the day you throw rocks at people."

"You're an idiot," blurted Nessa. Bakura glared at her. "Rock Day is the day for you to make yourself look like a sexy rock star. Like me, for example."

She indicated her outfit. It consisted of a snug, black halter top that read, _Caution: Sexy When Wet_, a black miniskirt with red flames and skulls with crossbones on them, black stockings that ran up to mid-thigh with lace on the hem, and pointy black heels.

"Pfft. You look like a hooker," stated Bakura, looking peeved. He felt as if he'd just made a mortal enemy.

"At least it looks like I'll be seeing some action, unlike you!" she hissed.

Bakura was confused by what she meant until he saw the look on Ryou's face.

Nessa smiled triumphantly when Bakura began begging and pleading with Ryou. She'd won that one. Now, all she had to do was—

"You're wearing that?"

She nearly flinched at the sound of Kaiba's voice. _Please don't let him look hotter than me_, she pleaded in her mind. Turning around, her jaw nearly dropped. This was Seto Kaiba?

The brunet had been gorgeous before, but today he was smokin' hot! His hair had been gelled and spiked somewhat, giving him that bad boy look. A tight, dark blue muscle shirt clung to him like a second skin, showing off every muscle that flexed beneath it. White, fingerless gloves covered his hands, accentuating the formfitting white pants he wore, which had a pair of black leather belts hanging loosely around his waist. And the whole outfit was complete with a pair of black buckled boots.

"How do you do that?" Nessa exclaimed.

"Do what?"

"Make yourself look sexy!" she accused, pointing at him in shock.

"I'm just emphasizing what I already have. Unlike you, I've always been sexy." And he wasn't going to let her know that it was actually his little brother who'd been helping him out.

"You're a real jerk, you know that?"

"Only to my rivals," he replied without thinking.

Nessa narrowed her eyes. "Does that mean you're admitting something?"

Kaiba blanched. "I've admitted nothing!" he insisted.

"You realized it, didn't you?" Nessa shrieked.

"I didn't—"

"Realized what?" Joey asked suddenly, announcing his presence.

"That he—"

Kaiba clasped his hand over Nessa's mouth. "Nothing. We were…" His voice trailed off as he took in Joey's appearance.

The blond wore a close-fitting crimson t-shirt and a belted choker around his neck, as well as something similar on both wrists. His pants were black—and all leather—which drew the eyes of any onlookers to his shapely form. Matching boots complemented the outfit.

His hotness scale was off the charts.

Kaiba flung his hand away from Nessa's mouth when he started feeling her drool; the woman had no class.

"Willow?" Nessa suddenly screeched, noticing the arrival of her friend. She couldn't believe it! Her friend had made herself look sexy! Willow _never_ tried to make herself look sexy; she didn't like drawing attention to herself. So seeing her dressed like that almost gave her a heart attack.

Willow seemed a tad withdrawn, as if she wasn't too confident about how she was dressed. But she wasn't hiding to the point where no one could make out her outfit.

There were purple extensions in her hair, giving her that rocker girl look. She even wore a dark purple sleeveless shirt that partially exposed her midsection, along with a pair of belted wristbands. Willow also wore a short, plaid skirt with a weaving of purple and black. A belt hung at her hips—also black—while fishnet stocking and platform boots finished her ensemble.

Nessa didn't know if she wanted to cover her up or encourage her. She didn't know if she wanted to be overprotective or supportive. Either way, Nessa felt she should keep an eye on her.

Willow had always been shy—your typical wallflower—while Nessa had always been so outgoing. It had been strange how they'd hit off a friendship, and after getting Willow to open up some, Nessa had come to realize that she was a really good friend.

And now that she'd come out of her shell a little bit, Nessa felt she could be more proud of her. It seemed being on the Student Council and meeting new people had done wonders for her.

"You're so sexy today!" Nessa squealed as she bounded over to her friend, practically pouncing on her as she gave Willow a hug.

"Um…thanks?" she replied, blushing a little.

"Hey, can we expect anythin' extreme for today's event?" asked Joey, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Yesterday was kinda embarrassin'."

Willow left Nessa's embrace to reply. "Today's definitely not as bad as yesterday. I don't think you need to be worried about anything. But I guess I can't really make any promises."

Just what the heck was that supposed to mean?

* * *

When lunch started, Bakura glared at Nessa from across the cafeteria. His little altercation with her that morning had deprived him of something really precious for a whole week. A _whole _week! He was going to make her pay for that one.

"I'm going to teach you a little lesson," said Bakura, a malicious grin on his face.

* * *

Everyone stared mutely at Principal Fuji, trying to register what he'd just said. Today's lunchtime activity was Karaoke?

A small stage had been set up in the gym with everything needed to perform. Furthermore, all the songs that could be chosen were already prepared. Perfect. Just perfect.

No one really wanted to hear anyone go up there and screech at the top of their lungs in what they might dub as singing. It was probably a good thing that everyone had finished eating; otherwise, they might have gotten sick to their stomachs with the not-so-in-tune voices.

Principal Fuji, on the other hand, didn't seem to pick up on the evil vibes the students sent his way. He just continued smiling. "So, do we have any volunteers?"

"Me!" Rei cried animatedly. He jumped onto the stage and quickly picked out a song.

When he began singing, Willow wanted to cut out his tongue. The song he'd chosen was _We Found Love_ by Rihanna. And though she hadn't been too fond of the song before, she hated it even more now that he'd butchered it.

Nessa nudged her. "Would you rather be deaf or have him be mute?" When she received no answer, she nudged her again. "Did you hear me?"

"I heard you."

"Then what's your answer?"

"I'm still trying to decide."

"I thought the choice would be easy," Nessa replied.

"On the one hand, I'd never have to hear a thing that came out of his stupid mouth ever again. On the other hand, more people are going to be singing. And probably in the same fashion as him."

"That was wonderful!" cried Principal Fuji when the song finally ended. "Do we have any more volunteers? Mr. Kaiba! Thank you for volunteering!"

Kaiba froze. He hadn't volunteered. As soon as he'd heard the word 'Karaoke,' he'd tried to blend in with the crowd. Apparently, that hadn't worked.

Glaring sadistically at Principal Fuji, the brunet forced himself to walk up the steps of the so-called stage, a dangerous aura flowing about him. It only got stronger when Principal Fuji smiled at him.

"Here," said the man, putting a microphone in his hands. "I've already selected the song."

Kaiba stared down at the microphone in his hands. He really had to do this? But he'd never sung in front of anyone before. Glancing at the audience, he noticed Nessa smirking at him. Meeting her gaze, he decided that he couldn't back down now, especially when Nessa was challenging him with her eyes.

He turned back to Principal Fuji. "What song?"

"_I'm Sexy and I Know It _by LMFAO," he answered with a smile as he started playing the song.

Kaiba's eyes widened. "No! Absolutely not! I refuse to sing such a—"

_Smack!_

The brunet watched as a cup of applesauce slid down his face and hit the floor. A loud 'boo' sounded from the audience.

_Nessa_.

Not thinking about what he was doing, Kaiba jumped off the stage and charged her. But he halted in his steps when he saw Bakura approach Nessa from behind.

"AAHH!" she screamed when she felt the bucket of ice water drench her entire body. She spun around to identify her attacker, looking very much like a soaked, manic kitten. "You!"

Bakura grinned. His mission, however slight, had been a success. "Nope. Still not sexy," he cackled.

Nessa was confused until she remembered what her shirt said. "You asshole! I'm gonna kill you!" she raged as she pounced on him.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Rei yelled, spurring everyone into a food throwing frenzy.

"Rei, you idiot!" Willow screamed as she got pelted with food. "Stop it right now! Why did you people even bring food into the gym? Stop making a mess!"

"Why is she so ticked?" Duke asked as he lightly elbowed Joey.

The blond shrugged. "She's on the Student Council, so I guess it's their responsibility to clean it up. But with how the rest of the members are, it might just be her doin' all the work."

"Hm." Duke watched as Willow suddenly left the gym.

And returned with a hose.

"Oh, crap!" he hissed when she hosed everyone down.

"Enough!" she yelled. "Get out! This event is officially over!"

"Party pooper," someone spat.

"You ruin all the fun," said another as the students exited the gym.

When everyone was gone, Willow surveyed the damage. The stage was splattered with mashed potatoes, the Karaoke machine was destroyed thanks to some people tossing their sodas at it, and the floors and walls were caked with food. There were even remnants sliding down the windows and dropping from the ceiling.

"Ah, there you are," said Principal Fuji. "I take it that you and the rest of the council will handle the mess then?"

Willow forced a smile on her face. "Of course."

"Good, good," he replied as he left.

But she knew that wasn't true. The other council members were too lazy and had undoubtedly ditched by now. She'd have to do everything herself.

* * *

Willow turned the corner of the hallway. She just changed into her gym clothes so that she could clean said gym. But she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going until she collided into something.

Or rather, someone. They flew to the floor, Willow landing on top.

She'd closed her eyes when she felt herself falling. And when the sensation stopped, she opened her eyes and saw a pair of green ones staring back at her.

"I'm sorry," she said, getting off the person she'd landed on. They rose to their feet simultaneously.

"It's okay," replied the victim of her clumsiness. Duke looked quite embarrassed. "I wasn't really looking where I was going either."

"Oh. I'll be going now."

"Uh, wait!"

"Hm?"

"We haven't formally introduced ourselves yet. I'm one of Joey's friends, Duke Devlin."

"I'm Willow Bane," she replied. "Nice to meet you."

"Uh, so have you been doing Student Council stuff?"

"Yes. And I need to get back to it," she said as she tried to leave again.

"Huh? Why? It's already after five," replied Duke. "Club activities should be over by now."

Willow sighed tiredly. "I'm still cleaning the gym. I'm only halfway done."

"Wait, you're doing it by yourself?" She nodded. "Where's the rest of the council?"

"Home, probably." She shrugged her shoulders and headed back toward the gym.

"I'll help you," said Duke as he jogged to catch up with her. Willow stared at him for a few seconds before nodding in acceptance.

Once they reached the gym, they began cleaning.

"So what made you decide to hose everyone down?" Duke asked as he peeled bologna off the windows.

"I thought it would be the quickest way to get everyone to stop," she replied solemnly. "I already knew I'd have to clean up and handle the expenses for any damages, so I thought it best to end it sooner rather than later. But that's going to backfire on me."

"How so?"

Willow gave him a bitter smile. "You'll see," she replied softly. "Thank you for coming to help me."

"It's no problem. I'm happy to do it."

* * *

**End Chapter**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 4**

"Um…Ryou? Are you okay?" Yugi asked hesitantly when he saw his disheveled friend shaking like a leaf. He was currently wearing a toga and gripping something white in his hands; it was Myth Day, after all. "Ryou?"

"Have you seen Bakura?" the white-haired teen blurted, looking ready to snap at any minute.

"No. Why?"

Yugi's answer was the white material being thrust into his face. "I need to find him before—"

High pitched screams stopped his words. Both Ryou and Yugi turned to see what had caused the screams, only to witness a bunch of girls fainting. When the dust settled around their unconscious forms, they could finally see what had caused such a commotion.

There stood Bakura—in all his naked glory—hands on his hips as he stood proudly in front of the school.

Yugi's eyes widened, but his vision was suddenly obscured by a hand; Yami had covered his eyes. "What is he doing?" he hissed.

"Bakura!" Ryou yelled. "Put this on this instant!"

"Why do I have to put that on? It's Myth Day, isn't it?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you are allowed to wander around naked!"

"Why not? That's how we did it back in the day. It was quite common for men to walk around naked in those days," Bakura argued.

"We are not back in those days! Now put this on!" Ryou screeched.

"Fine," he finally conceded as he put on the offered toga.

"I MISSED IT?" Nessa screamed, staring—appalled—at Bakura and Ryou after someone had told her that Bakura had been parading around the school naked. Apparently, her pervy senses were a bit off today. Normally she wouldn't miss something like that.

But for now, she needed to entice her hubby. Being dressed like a hot Valkyrie was bound to get her some attention.

Her outfit included a gorgeous gown featuring a crimson bodice with gleaming gold metallic screen-print, an attached velvety ivory skirt with gold trimming along the asymmetric layered detail, and arm gauntlets trimmed with faux fur and gold ribbon. There was even an attached satiny gold cape featuring faux fur trim, an intricately designed horned vinyl headpiece, and a gold chain with a ruby charm.

She even had a sword! Which she planned on beating the crap out of Bakura with later, but that was beside the point.

"Hey, hot stuff."

Nessa glanced off to the side and felt herself freeze. "Willow? What—is that you?"

Willow burst out laughing at her friend's expression. "Yes, it's me."

"Why are you dressed as Medusa?"

"Because I like snakes."

Willow wore a dark green stretch knit dress with gold foil snake print cups, embellished trim and gold ring detail, a draping veil gold snake headpiece, gold arm bands, and an adjustable snake wrap necklace.

"It looks good on you," Nessa admitted with a smile.

Willow grinned back. "Thank you."

"Hey! Did ya guys hear Bakura went around school naked?" announced Joey as he came up beside Willow.

"Yes! And I missed it!" Nessa exclaimed, looking peeved.

It was then Joey noticed the sword around her waist. Great. He could already imagine her challenging him to a swordfight for a date already.

"But I don't mind seeing you instead, hubby," continued Nessa as she started drooling over him.

Joey took a subconscious step backward, his costume rustling as he did so. Perhaps being dressed as he was hadn't been such a good idea. His outfit consisted of a deluxe brown tunic, molded chest armor, gauntlets, shin guards, and a sword. The blond looked like your typical Greek hero.

And while Nessa continued to have perverted daydreams, she became oblivious to the fact that Kaiba had arrived. At least until he nudged her out of the way so that he could stand next to Joey.

"Watch…it?" she started as she took in Kaiba's appearance.

He wore a bright white toga, a dark colored drape, a decorative gold chest plate, arm guards with lightning bolt symbols, and a gold crown. Was he supposed to be Zeus? Because if he was, then he was the hottest Zeus she had ever seen.

Nessa watched in definite awe while Kaiba stood next to Joey. Two totally hot guys decked out in totally hot and masculine costumes was totally hot—no! No! What was she thinking? She did not just think that! She did not just think about the two of them being flush up against each other, letting their costumes drop to the floor as they…

NO! DIRTY MIND! DIRTY, TRAITOROUS MIND!

Why was she thinking these things? What was she, Queen of the Hentai? That was just wrong on so many levels! But then, why did the thought of it seem so hot?

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER?

Noticing that Nessa had disappeared inside herself, Kaiba, Joey, and Willow decided to take their leave. Once Nessa came to, they didn't want to be around to see what she did. At the moment, she looked quite unstable.

"Hey, Willow! Wait up!" Duke cried, waving her down as he caught up to them; he seemed to be dressed as a gladiator.

Willow paused in her steps so that he could catch his breath. "Hi. Um, thanks for yesterday."

Duke laughed and fiddled with his hair. "It was no problem. I actually thought yesterday day was kind of fun."

Nessa seemed to snap out of it then. "Huh? Yesterday? What happened yesterday?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, what happened yesterday?" asked Joey as he stared hard at Duke. "Ya didn't do anythin' funny, did ya?"

"What? No! I just helped her out in the gym! We cleaned up! That's it!" Duke explained quickly.

"Wait, so ya really had to clean the gym up?"

Willow nodded. "It was the Student Council's responsibility the clean it up, but the rest of them ditched me. Duke offered to help me and so we spent the afternoon cleaning up."

"Ya should've asked us for help. We would've come to lend a hand," said Joey.

"I figured everyone would have been busy. I didn't want to be a bother to anyone," she said with a shrug.

"You should know by now that you're not. We're all friends, right?" added Nessa as she hugged her from behind.

"Yes, we're all friends." _But I really don't want to be a burden._ She glanced over at Duke. "Um…about what I asked yesterday?" she started unsurely.

Duke smiled. "I'll still do it. I don't mind."

* * *

**_Flashback_**

_Willow and Duke tossed the final garbage bags into the dumpster, dusting their hands off and stretching._

_"Looks like we're finally done," started Duke. "You want to get something to eat? My treat."_

_"I guess so," replied Willow. When Duke started to walk away, her hand shot out to catch his wrist. "Wait. Can I…talk to you about something?"_

_He stopped and turned to face her again. "Sure. What's up?"_

_"Um…do you think the rest of the school hates me for what I did today?"_

_"You mean when you hosed us down? Sure, some of them might be a bit miffed, but I don't think they'd hate you for it. It was actually kind of fun."_

_Willow didn't seem appeased. "But…"_

_"Did something happen?" he asked, growing concerned._

_"Sort of," she began. "When everyone started to leave, some guys threw insults at me. And after school someone wrote…vulgar comments on my locker. I was able to get it off before anyone could see, but I'm just afraid something worse will happen."_

_"Do you know who it might have been?"_

_Willow shook her head. "I'm new here. I don't really know anyone other than Joey, his friends, and the Student Council members."_

_"Maybe it was just a heat of the moment thing."_

_"Maybe. But it doesn't really feel that way. You didn't see the looks," she said as her voice trailed off. "Do you think—just for tomorrow—you could walk to class with me? I'm afraid of what else might happen."_

_Duke was surprised to hear this. "Yeah, I can if you really want. But why not ask Nessa or Joey?"_

_"They're…a bit preoccupied for the time being. And I don't want to be a burden to them."_

_"You should really believe in your friends a bit more," he suggested. "But I'll watch out for you if that's what you really want."_

_"Thank you."_

**_End Flashback_**

* * *

"Hey!" Nessa shouted, trying to get Willow's attention. "Don't mind doing what?"

"Just," Duke started, but he was cut off when Willow yelped in surprise.

"What the hell, ya jerks?" Joey shouted as he made to run after them.

"Don't," Willow gasped, stopping him in his tracks. She looked down at her clothes, which were now covered in splotches of paint; she'd been pelted with paint-filled water balloons.

"But they—"

"I know what they did," she cut in. "But I don't want you getting in trouble over this."

"Well, we need to do something," stated Kaiba. "I know who they are. I'll report them."

"No. Don't," insisted Willow. "They'll think I'm flaunting my authority as a member of the Student Council. Then it'll just get worse."

"That's just too damn bad," said Nessa as she put her hands on her hips. "We're going to report those assholes whether you like it or not. I know why you're saying this; you're not a burden. We're your friends and we care about you. Your problem is our problem. And I won't stand by while my best friend is being attacked by delinquents."

"And you should report the other thing, too," added Duke.

"Other thing? What other thing?" asked Nessa. "Did something else happen?"

"Someone vandalized her locker," he continued. "She cleaned it up before anyone could see it."

"I don't understand why someone would do any of this," Kaiba said.

"People didn't like it when a put a stop to the food fight yesterday. Everything was my responsibility, so I ended it before it could get worse. And this happened," explained Willow.

Kaiba frowned. "Here's what's going to happen. Duke and I will report the students responsible for this, Nessa will help you get cleaned up, and the mutt will kick anyone's ass that gets in the way. Got it? Good."

"He doesn't leave much room for argument, does he?" voiced Nessa as Kaiba and Duke headed off.

"Hey, what am I supposed to do? Guard the locker room?" Joey questioned.

Nessa winked at him. "You could always join us."

"Pass," deadpanned Joey. "Let's go find Tea. She probably has somethin' ya can change into; she's always got clothes hangin' around somewhere."

* * *

Joey was seriously starting to doubt the competency of Rei. But not only him; Principal Fuji as well. No one in their right mind would have approved this.

WHAT KIND OF ADULTS ALLOWED HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO HAVE BATTLES IN A GLADIATOR ARENA?

Okay, so maybe it wasn't really a gladiator arena. But it was pretty damn close. They were using the soccer field so that they could fight with swords. Yeah.

"This is how it's going to work," announced Willow. "We will have a gladiatorial battle designed as a tournament. Eight contestants will compete and there will only be one winner. Principal Fuji has already selected the participants.

"When your name is called, you will head to the locker room and change into your gladiator battle armor, pick up your sword—mind you, they are plastic—and head back to the arena to fight.

"Once the fight begins, you either have to be the last one standing or knock your opponent out of the arena. There are markings on the ground to indicate that."

Principal Fuji then stepped forward, prepared to announce the participants. "The first round will consist of four matches. The first match will be Kaiba versus Yami."

Kaiba's eyes actually lit up. This was going to be fun.

"The second match will be Nessa versus Bakura."

"Yes!" she cried. "You're going down!"

"We'll see about that!" he snapped back.

"The third match will be Joey versus Marik."

"Why do I gotta face the psychopath?" the blond exclaimed.

"And the fourth match will be Rei versus Duke."

"Cool, man?" said the Student Council President.

Principal Fuji cleared his throat. "Everyone get changed and return to the arena!"

After some time, the contestants returned. They were dressed in costume gladiator armor, complete with helmets and hefty looking plastic swords. Kaiba and Yami were the first to enter the arena.

"I must warn you, Kaiba. I am trained in the art of swordplay," said Yami, brandishing his weapon skillfully.

The brunet took a deep breath, pulled back his sword, and smacked his opponent in the head. Yami's helmet spun and it completely blocked his vision. "Yes, I can see that," Kaiba scoffed.

"Wait!" came Yami's muffled cry as he struggled with the helmet. "I can't see!"

"War waits for no one," he stated as he lunged at Yami. He smacked him in the head again with the sword as he relentlessly beat him into submission.

"Stop! Halt! Ow! Cease and desist! Ack! I call for a truce!" Yami yelled as he tried to duck and weave while his sight was obscured, but Kaiba refused to ease up. "Have mercy, Kaiba! Yugi, make him stop!"

"King of Games, my ass!" Kaiba shouted while hacking away at him. "You play the same cards over and over again! Every single duel! It's like watching an instant replay! And yet you still continue to beat me! I don't understand it!"

"Augh! It's called the heart of the cards!"

"I'll take that heart of the cards and shove up your—"

"AAH!"

"And that," Kaiba said finally as he put away his sword, "was for my Blue-Eyes." He turned on his heel and left the arena while Yami twitched on the ground; he had finally been defeated.

"You've really got some issues to work out, huh?" taunted Nessa.

"Shut up," Kaiba spat right back at her.

Huffing, Nessa entered the arena and narrowed her eyes at her opponent, Bakura. He smirked at her as he tossed his sword back and forth between his hands.

"I've been waiting for you," he said. "Are you ready to—ucgh!" Bakura crumpled to the floor in pain. Nessa had kicked him in the groin.

"Maybe next time, jerk."

"Ergh, I hate that little bitch!" Bakura cried as he sobbed in the middle of the arena.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Joey mumbled as he wandered into the arena while a few students helped Bakura wobble away.

"This is going to be fun," said Marik, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. But before the match could really get underway, a helmet flew into the arena and hit him in the chest. "What the hell?"

"Stay away from my hubby!" Nessa jeered.

Marik gripped his sword and stormed off in her direction, not stopping until he was nose to nose with her. "You dare—"

"Looks like you lost to Joey," she said, cutting him off.

"Huh?"

"You left the arena. You technically lost by forfeit."

"What? No! I demand a rematch!" declared Marik.

"No rematches, man," said Rei as he entered the arena. "It's time for me to face Dude."

"It's Duke," corrected the black-haired C.E.O.

"That's what I said. Dude."

"It's Duke! D-U-K-E! Duke!"

Rei blinked at him. "Dude, I thought we were supposed to duke it out with swords! I didn't know we had to spell for this thing."

"We _are_ supposed to fight with swords."

"Then why are you spelling, man? This ain't a spelling bee, right? Cuz if it is, I'm out."

"No, it's not a spelling bee," Duke groaned. Why was the guy such a dunce?

"Then why were you spelling? If this isn't a spelling bee then—hey! Where are we going?" Rei asked as Duke started pushing him. He kept doing so until Rei was standing on the outside of the arena. "Hey, what'd you do that for?"

"It was easier than hitting you in the head," Duke snapped. "I didn't want to cause you anymore brain damage."

Rei laughed. "Cool! Thanks, man!"

"I guess that means we're up," said Nessa as she glared at Kaiba. They entered the arena at the same time. "There's no way you'll be able to beat me."

"We'll just see about that," Kaiba retorted.

Nessa stared at the brunet for about a minute before she started grinning. Throwing her sword at Kaiba, the brunet barely had time to react before Nessa lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. And when he felt her hands slide down toward his nether regions, he flipped.

Shoving Nessa off himself, he scrambled to his feet and fled the arena. When he felt he was in safe territory, he turned around and glared at her, his hands hovering over his behind protectively.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kaiba shouted.

Nessa just smirked. "I won, didn't I?" she replied. "And I guess this means whoever wins the next round will be facing me."

Duke and Joey glanced at each other before heading into the arena. Nessa was in the finals, which meant that whoever won here would face her. And after her little episode with Kaiba…

May the better man lose?

Once the round began, both Joey and Duke seemed to have the same idea; they bolted for the edge of the arena. Joey, however, grabbed onto the hem of Duke's pants and yanked him to the ground so that he could make a break for it.

But Duke had other plans. He took his sword and threw it between Joey's legs, tripping him. The blond fell flat on his face, giving Duke the time he needed to leave the arena and lose.

"Looks like you'll be the one facing Nessa," he panted.

_No!_ Joey thought frantically. _I don't want to be molested!_

Gradually, he stood up in the arena and awaited Nessa. When she arrived, he brandished his sword as he took a few steps back away from her.

But before Nessa could do a thing, she screamed bloody murder. "WHY IS IT ALWAYS WATER?"

Spinning on her heel, she seethed at her attackers—Bakura, Marik, and Kaiba—all of whom had thrown buckets of water on her. Trembling with rage, she waved her sword at them threateningly. "Prepare to die!" she screamed as she ran full force at them.

As the chaos ensued, Joey collapsed in the arena. He had been saved. Thank goodness for people with bad judgments.

* * *

"We're here, sir," announced Seto's driver as he pulled up to the school. But it didn't appear that Kaiba had heard him. He was too frozen in place.

Nervous blue eyes peeked out the window of the limo, eying all the students scampering about in Gothic clothing with trepidation. He looked down at himself and mentally groaned. Why did it have to be Goth Day?

In the beginning, he hadn't even known what Goth was. And after a very elaborate description from Mokuba—how he knew in the first place was beyond him—his brother had decided on this very outfit himself. The young boy had said it was a Victorian Vampire costume, but they'd altered it somewhat so that he didn't actually resemble the stereotypical vampire.

Kaiba wore a silver and black vest with attached white sleeves, silver chain trimmings, a dickey with an attached cravat, and a cape. All in all, he was embarrassed. Mokuba had said he looked good, but Kaiba begged to differ.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Stepping out of the limo, Kaiba slammed the door shut and took a few steps toward the school. When several girls swooned as he passed them, he figured Mokuba had been right. But he wasn't too sure if that was a good thing or not.

"I have to admit, you actually look pretty good today," said Nessa, crossing her arms as she glared at the brunet.

"I could say the same about you, but then I'd be lying," Kaiba retorted with his signature smirk. That comment got her frazzled.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bastard?" she snapped.

"Yes, but not nearly as many times as you've been called a bitch, I'm sure." He was getting a real kick out of this. Maybe if he pissed her off enough, she'd leave him alone. "Are you sure your costume is appropriate for today?"

"Huh?" responded Nessa, sounding confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if you're trying to get Joey's attention, don't you think he might get the wrong message based on what you're wearing?"

What was wrong with what she was wearing? She looked down at herself. Nessa wore a black widow themed corset, g-string, garters, skirt, elastic waist petticoat, satin gloves, a head and eye band, a necklace, and stockings with black heels. If anything, she looked pretty damned sexy.

"That fact that you're passing yourself off as a black widow will more than likely turn Joey off."

"What do you mean?"

"In actuality, after a black widow mates, she kills her partner. Just what kind of message are you trying to send him?" inquired Kaiba. When realization dawned in her eyes, the brunet knew he'd won.

"You're lying to me!" she declared, pointing at him accusingly.

"He's not lying, Nessa. It's true," stated Willow as she approached them with Joey in tow.

Willow wore a short sleeve zip-up jacket with a bare midriff and tails. The jacket was purple with a rose design and featured a high crushed velvet collar. There was also a full length black skirt sitting below her waist, which flared out at the knee, and the bottom was trimmed in the same material as the jacket.

"Nessa?" Willow called, waving a hand in front of her face. Glancing over at Kaiba, it looked as if he was in the same frozen position her friend was currently in. And the reason seemed to be over Joey.

The blond wore a midnight black coat with a high satin collar and built-in cape with matching pants. The coat featured seven gothic-styled buttons in the front and three on each cuff. But the part of his outfit that seemed to be so distracting was the fact that Joey wasn't wearing a shirt underneath his coat; in fact, his chest was exposed all the way down to his navel.

Kaiba swallowed convulsively. There was definitely no way he could deny his feelings now. He really was attracted to Joey. Sexually! He just wanted to grab him and…molest him! What the hell was he thinking? He was getting as bad as Nessa!

"Hi," said Kaiba. His head was spinning. All that thinking and that was the best he could come up with? What was wrong with him?

His chest. It had to be Joey's chest. He just wanted to touch it!

Kaiba sighed. What was he going to do? Joey looked at him as an enemy. Nothing more, nothing less. How could he change Joey's perception of him? He needed help.

But was there really anyone to ask?

* * *

There were so many squeals erupting from the girls outside that it sounded as if they were standing in the middle of a pig farm. The day's lunch activity was the reason behind all of that.

It was at this point in time that Kaiba wanted to slaughter whoever had come up with this idea. It had to be Rei. No one else would have come up with a Demonic Tunnel of Love. It seemed to be a cross between your typical Haunted House and a Tunnel of Love. Who thought up things like this?

"They're splittin' everyone up into two lines. One for girls and one for guys," started Joey. "I guess they'll be sendin' everyone in as pairs. I don't think I can do this."

"Why not?" asked Kaiba, looking interested.

"I don't do creepy stuff. I ain't steppin' one foot in there."

"It's not mandatory to go inside. I suppose I can wait out here with you until your friends have had their fun."

"Huh? Don't ya wanna go in?"

Kaiba narrowed his gaze and frowned. "And get stuck with one of those fangirls? No, thank you."

Joey laughed. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

* * *

"No!" Nessa cried. She was pissed. She didn't want to stand in line and then suddenly get paired off with some random person for the Demonic Tunnel of Love. She wanted to be paired with Joey. He was afraid of all things haunted, so it would have been the perfect opportunity to get in some free groping.

"Why am I here again?" Willow asked.

"Because if I have to be here without my hubby, then you have to be here, too. And you're the Vice President."

"The first part doesn't even make sense."

"It does in my head."

"Whatever," Willow sighed. "It looks like you're up next."

Nessa groaned and trudged over to the entrance of the Demonic Tunnel of Love. Who was she being paired up with, anyway?

"Why does it have to be you?" Tristan exclaimed, his jaw dropping.

Nessa raised an eyebrow. Well, it could have been worse. "What do you mean by that?"

"You're that pervert who keeps trying to harass Joey!" he declared.

"I'm not a pervert!" she yelled.

"Yeah, right."

"Although, if you want me to be, I can. And I'll show you, too," she ground out, her expression becoming serious. Tristan bolted for the Demonic Tunnel of Love, Nessa right on his heels.

"It's our turn now."

Willow turned her head to see Duke smiling at her. She had to go with him? Nodding, they both made their way down the darkened entryway.

"So…do you like these kinds of things?" asked Duke.

"What? Creepy stuff? Yeah, I guess so. But the stuff in here is far from creepy," she said as they walked by what looked like a skeleton bride and groom. "Shouldn't a place like this be scarier? I mean, it would literally have people jump into each other's arms if it was."

Duke chuckled. "Is that your way of saying you want to be held?"

"No. But you're going to."

"Huh?" The green-eyed teen turned around to see what she meant and came face to face with a demonic looking clown that suddenly swooped down at them. "Holy shit!" he screeched as he jumped away from it.

"Let me know when you're ready to let go," Willow said with an amused grin.

"What? Oh!" Duke then realized he'd latched himself onto her after running away from the damned clown. "I'm sorry!" he insisted frantically, immediately releasing his grip on her.

Willow laughed lightly in response. "It's fine. You're such a scaredy-cat."

"I am not scared."

"You're just like Joey."

He was about to protest when they suddenly heard a high-pitched scream coming from deeper within the tunnel. Duke's hand lashed out and grabbed Willow's, subconsciously seeking comfort. She looked down at their hands curiously before giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"As I said. Scaredy-cat."

Duke fidgeted. "Just don't tell the guys," he whispered.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. Now let's go save Tristan. I'm pretty sure that was him we heard screaming."

* * *

Kaiba fiddles with his hands as he stood next to Joey, waiting for the blond's friends to return from the Demonic Tunnel of Love. He glanced over at him and found Joey staring at him intently. "What?"

"It's nothin'," the blond replied quickly, averting his gaze.

"Seriously, what?"

"Um. It's just that I didn't think ya'd actually do this stuff," Joey started unsurely. "All the dressin' up and participatin' in lunch activities? I never thought ya'd do stuff like that. I figured ya'd fight everythin' tooth and nail."

Kaiba took a deep breath as if contemplating his words. He wanted to make sure whatever he said next would earn him some kind of brownie points with the blond. He needed to change his image around him. "I decided that since this is our last year of high school that I'd…have no regrets. Even if that meant doing things I wouldn't normally do. Everyone will go their separate ways after this school year ends and…"

"And ya wanna make memories or somethin'?" Joey questioned. At the brunet's sharp nod, the blond smiled. "It took ya long enough. And who knew ya could be so sappy."

"I'm not sappy!"

Joey chuckled. "Sure ya aren't."

"I'm not!"

* * *

Things weren't looking so well for Ness. Or Tristan for that matter. He was currently being restrained by a set of chains on the wall inside of the Demonic Tunnel of Love. And Nessa was chained to him in a way that definitely made it appear inappropriate.

Hence the scream he gave earlier.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" Nessa roared as she glared at Bakura, who just smile back at her. He stepped closer so that they could see him better.

"I'm getting my revenge," he said.

"Revenge? Revenge for what?"

"For yesterday!" Bakura growled.

"That's what this is about? But you guys got me back yesterday! You dumped water on me, remember?"

Bakura crossed his arms. "I'm afraid a kick to the family jewels warrants no mercy."

"You asshole!" she screeched.

"What's going on?"

"Willow!" Nessa exclaimed, happiness clearly evident on her face. "Help me!"

Duke and Willow approached the scene with a mixture of amusement and disinterest. "How do you even get yourself into these messes?"

"I don't do it on purpose!"

"Keep them here for about fifteen more minutes then let them go," said Willow as she dragged Duke alongside her down the tunnel. "See you later, Nessa!"

"What?" she screeched. "Unchain me, damn it! You traitor!"

* * *

**End Chapter**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"I can't believe I let Nessa choose my outfit," Willow stated unhappily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's not that bad," Joey said, trying to appease her.

"Not that bad? I look like a fairytale stripper!" she screeched. "I can't believe I'm wearing this!" Why, oh why, had she let Nessa pick her costume for Fairytale Day?

"It's fine," he insisted.

Willow glared at him. "At least you're covered!"

Joey was dressed as none other than Robin Hood. He wore a hat with a feather, a loose fitting white shirt, a brown leather vest, a capelet with a lace-up front, a belt with a large gold buckle, brown leather pants, and brown boots.

Willow, on the other hand, was a little more underdressed. However, it wasn't her fault. Because of Student Council duties, she hadn't had time to pick out an outfit for today, so she'd asked Nessa to do the honors. And boy, had that been a mistake.

All in all, Willow was Little Bo Peep. Sort of. More like Hooker Bo Peep. She wore a cropped sexy blue top, complete with matching mini skirt and bonnet, white thigh highs, and black heels. In her hand she held a white shepherd's crook. Little Bo Peep had never been so sexy.

"Come on," Joey said, trying to get her to join into the fun of it all. "I'll even keep all those Big Bad Wolves away from ya."

Willow huffed. "If you let any slip by, I'll bash you in the head with this," she replied, waving the shepherd's crook at him.

* * *

"Well, if it isn't Prince Charming," Nessa mocked as Kaiba approached her. He wore a fully finished garment that included a white military style jacket with attached gold and black epaulets, black slacks with gold stripes going down the sides, a gold jacquard sash, and a military style belt and medal. His jacket was accented with gold colored buttons, a gold color, and cuffs.

"And who do we have here, the Wicked Bitch of the West?" Kaiba retaliated.

"Witch! It's the Wicked Witch of the West!"

"I beg to differ."

Nessa's eye twitch. If she was a bitch then she might as well be a sexy one, especially with what she was wearing today. She wore a black off-the-shoulder dress with uneven green hem, wide sleeves, thin straps, a thick belt, and a matching hat with a buckle.

"We need to talk about something," Kaiba began slowly. His tone seemed to garner Nessa's interest. "It's about this romantic rival statement you made before."

"Oh?" she replied, eyebrow raised. "What? Did you finally realize your true feelings for Joey?" she mocked sarcastically.

"Yes."

"WHAT?" Nessa started choking on the breath she'd inhaled. "You mean you actually like him? Like I do?"

Kaiba wasn't sure how to answer that. "Not exactly like you. I don't plan on doing the indecent things you've done this past week. But I do sincerely have a romantic interest in him. And that does make us rivals. However, I don't intend to lose to the likes of you."

"That's where you're wrong!" Nessa protested. "Joey doesn't even like you!"

"He doesn't like you, either!"

"Well…at least he talks to me!"

"Only when he's telling you leave him alone. At least I can hold a normal conversation with him!"

"With who?" started Joey, making himself known. Willow was standing beside him.

Nessa perked up. "Kaiba li—"

"Nothing!" the brunet cut in, giving his rival a threatening glare, silencing her. "It's nothing."

"Okay," Joey replied, eyeing them strangely.

Suddenly, a whistle caught their attention. "I'd like to be your sheep," announced Duke as he walked by, giving Willow a wink. She just rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Did he just hit on you?" Nessa exclaimed, her attention now diverted from Kaiba and Joey. She jumped on Willow and hugged her. "I'm so happy! Someone hit on you! What are you going to do now?"

"Nothing?" Willow replied uneasily.

"Huh? Why not? It's obvious he likes you!"

"But I don't think I like him like that."

"Augh! You can be so impossible sometimes," groaned Nessa. "Just give it a chance, will you?"

"But I really don't like him like that," Willow repeated, quietly this time.

"Whatever," mumbled Nessa in response, turning away from her. "Wait! Where did Kaiba and Joey go?"

* * *

"Good afternoon, everyone!" started Principal Fuji at the start of lunch. "I have some excellent news! Your afternoon classes have been canceled."

Cheers erupted throughout the entire cafeteria.

"And since all of you have graciously participated in Spirit Week, we—the faculty—have decided to reward you with a genuine Ball.

"Now, this won't be your ordinary school dance. We'll be having somewhat of a competition. Firstly, you'll be paired off. After that, you'll head to the appropriate locker room and change into your ballroom attire. Then you and your partner will make your way to the gymnasium where we will have a 'Best Couple' vote made by the faculty. And the winners will receive a very special prize.

"Are we ready to begin with the selection of your partners?"

"Wait just a fucking minute!" snapped Bakura, who was dressed as the Big Bad Wolf. "We can't pick our own partner?"

"Language," Principal Fuji lightly scolded. "But yes, that's right."

"This is outrageous!" he snarled.

"Oh, get over yourself," provoked Nessa.

"I wouldn't mess with me if I were you," growled Bakura.

"Oh? And why is that?"

Bakura just smirked and blasted something in her face.

Nessa screamed. Pepper spray! Why did it have to be pepper spray? "AAH! I'M MELTING! MELTING!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Let me help you with that." Bakura then splashed her face with the milk he'd had during lunch.

Nessa sniffed. "That actually helped."

"Shall we continue?" Principal Fuji continued hurriedly. Sometimes his students scared him.

When everyone settled back down, Principal Fuji took a box from one of the other faculty members.

"I'll draw two names at a time. Pay close attention. These will be your partners for the Ball." He said as he drew the first two names. "Nessa and Tea!"

"What?" Nessa screeched. She'd been paired with a girl? And Tea of all people? Why?

"Tristan and Yugi!"

They looked at each other awkwardly.

"Marik and Duke!"

The black-haired C.E.O. flinched when all his partner did was cackle.

"Seto and Yami!"

Kaiba pinched the bridge of his nose. Why him?

"Ryou and Malik!"

That didn't seem too bad.

"Joey and Willow."

Willow heaved a sigh of relief; she hadn't been paired with Rei. "Oh, thank goodness."

"Hey! What about me?" shouted Bakura when it seemed the rest of the names had been called out.

"I'm getting to you," said Principal Fuji. "And it seems like you'll be paired with Rei."

"What? No! Did you see him on Myth Day? He thought the gladiator arena was a spelling bee! What do you think he'll believe the Ball is?" Bakura seethed.

"Hey," said Rei, nudging Bakura. "Is a Ball kinda like an orgy?"

"Seriously! What are you on?" he snapped.

"On?" Rei asked in confusion. He looked down. "I think I'm on the ground. Wait! Is this one of those trippy questions? Like you're asking me if we're in the matrix? Cuz I don't know what pill I'd take, man. I think I'd follow the white rabbit, though. Hey! You kinda look like the white rabbit! Am I supposed to follow you now?"

Bakura's eye twitched. "I am not a rabbit!" He felt that if he listened to Rei anymore, he'd just get stupid.

* * *

"I'm really sorry, but we don't have any more ballroom gowns. One of you will have to wear one of the men's outfits," Mr. Chie informed Nessa and Tea.

"Can't we just get the one from Bakura and Rei?" started Tea. "They were given a gown."

"True, but I just don't have the heart to take it from him," said Mr. Chie, his eyes focusing on Rei dancing around in the gown. "He just looks so happy in it."

Tea sighed. "I guess it's fine then. Right, Nessa?"

She just grumbled in response. Like hell she was going to agree with her. But if anyone was going to wear pants in this fake relationship, it was going to be her.

"I'll wear the men's suit," said Nessa, crossing her arms.

"Really? That's nice of you," commented Tea cheerfully. She smiled and just kept on smiling. "You could at least say something nice back."

"Why should I? I just got paired off with the last person I wanted to be with."

Tea approached her threateningly. She narrowed her gaze at her. "Maybe we should discuss your manners."

"My manners? You're the one who's—what's that? What're you doing with that yo-yo?"

"It's just something I've been meaning to try out. Now look into my eyes," Tea began in a sultry voice as she moved the yo-yo back and forth.

Nessa couldn't help but get drawn in.

"Just listen to the sound of my voice. Nod if you can hear me. Good. Now close your eyes and listen. I am going to count to three. When I snap my fingers, you will be polite and friendly to everyone, okay?" she continued.

Nessa nodded again.

"Excellent. One…two…three." _Snap!_

* * *

Willow groaned after she finished putting on her dress, Joey waiting for her just outside the door. "I look like a girl!" she exclaimed from within the locker room.

The blond chuckled. "Ya are a girl."

"Yeah, but this makes me look like a girly girl," she said as she stepped out. "And it's pink."

"It's better than the outfit ya wore earlier, right?"

"Yeah."

"And I hear Nessa's gotta wear a suit."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better are you?"

"Kinda. But it is true! Nessa's wearin' a suit!"

"This I have to see," said Willow as she stopped fiddling with the gown. "Let's go have a look."

* * *

"If I have to suffer, so does she," mumbled Bakura as he thought about how to get revenge against Nessa. "And will you stop twirling around in that dress!"

"But it's fun!" laughed Rei as he continued to twirl. "Wanna try it?"

"No! I don't want to try it! Now stop before I rip that bloody dress off of you and shove it down your throat!"

"Ya know, I could just take it off it you wanna try it on that bad," Rei offered.

"For the last time, I don't want to try it on!" Bakura snapped. "That's it. I'm going to push Nessa over the edge."

* * *

"I want to be with Yugi," grumbled Yami for what had to have been the tenth time within the past five minutes.

"Will you shut up already?" quipped Kaiba. "If I have to hear another word out of you, I'm going to throw your ass into the punch bowl."

Yami growled and crossed his arms. But silence still wouldn't come to him. "I still—"

"Look," Kaiba interrupted, "we would all prefer to be partnered with different people, but—"

"Really? Who did you want to be partnered with?" interrupted Yami.

"That's not the point! The point is—"

"Hi!" called Tea, waving at them. Nessa stood next to her, holding onto her arm.

"Hello, Kaiba. How are you? Isn't this fun?" implored Nessa, a glazed look in her eyes.

"You did it again?" exclaimed Yami, his eyes widening. "How many times must I warn you not to dabble in such things as hypnotism?"

"But I'm good at it!"

"Are we havin' fun yet?" announced Joey, adding himself to the group along with Willow.

"Oh, we are having lots of fun," said Nessa in the same monotonous voice.

Willow raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me. I feel absolutely fine."

"I have never seen her like this before," Willow whispered to Joey.

"What? Nice?"

"No. Calm."

"May I have your attention please?" interrupted Principal Fuji. He stood at the front of the gymnasium, microphone in hand. "We'd like to get started with our competition.

"Now, since you've all been paired with someone, you will look to this person as your dance partner. We'll be having a formal waltz beginning in a few minutes. The rest of the faculty and I will be observing you and will choose a winner for the 'Best Couple.'

"Are we ready to get started? Then let the waltz begin!"

Everyone went into the arms of their respective partners and began dancing. Well, some were dancing. Others were tripping over the ballroom gowns and making fools of themselves. How many modern day teenagers knew how to waltz?

"I never took you for one who knew how to waltz," observed Willow, seemingly impressed by Joey's dancing ability.

"I watch a lot of old movies," he replied meekly, showing her his goofball grin.

"Figures."

"Time to cause a little mayhem," Bakura said from far off. "Now's my chance."

As he made his way over to Willow and Joey, he also crept near Nessa. Bakura grabbed Nessa's arm and yanked her around.

"Oops. Pardon me," Bakura cackled as he pushed Joey into Willow.

The blond flew forward, knocking Willow into the wall.

"Sorry!" Joey began.

"It's okay," she replied as she tried pushing him away, but there was one little problem. Joey's belt was stuck to the front of her dress.

Stupid lace!

* * *

Whatever trance Nessa had been in was gone now. After seeing the compromising position Joey and Willow had been in, she started to become herself again. And she was confused.

Especially when Joey placed his hands on Willow's hips and guided her backward outside the gym where no one could see them.

Did that mean Willow like Joey? Or did Joey like Willow? This was all too confusing!

Wait. She had to calm down and look at things logically.

She liked Joey. Joey didn't like her. Kaiba liked Joey. Joey didn't like Kaiba. She didn't like Kaiba and Kaiba didn't like her. Now it seemed that Joey liked Willow and Willow liked Joey. But Willow was friends with her and it had always seemed like she was friends with Joey.

WAIT!

Did that mean she was stuck in the middle of some kind of love triangle? But there were four people. So that made it…she was in the middle of a love square!

There was no doubt about it. Life was awesome.

* * *

"I only bumped into ya! How the hell did this stupid belt get so tangled up in this damn dress?" Joey exclaimed as he fumbled with the traitorous belt. It seemed like the more he touched it, the worse it got.

"What do you expect? It's lace. Let me try," said Willow, batting his hands away. "What the hell did you do to it?"

"I didn't do anythin'!"

"Then why are there knots in it?"

"I don't know!"

"That's it. I'm going to kill whoever invented lace," she grumbled as she fought with the damned material. She fought with it some more before losing her temper.

_Rip!_

"Uh, I didn't mean to do that," Willow said. "Well, so much for the frilly bow on the front of her dress. "And unless you want to go out there with my bow on your belt, I suggest you take it off."

"I don't know if I can even get this damn thing off," replied Joey, fiddling with the lace bow.

"I meant take off the belt."

"Oh, yeah. That works, too," he stated with an embarrassed laugh as he took his belt off. "Okay. Are we ready to go back in there?"

"Sure. Why not?"

* * *

Kaiba just kept staring at the door that led outside of the gym. He didn't want to believe it, but from what he'd seen, it looked like Joey and Willow were in a relationship.

And they had been out there for quite some time. What could they be doing? Had they left?

He turned his gaze back to the door and noticed Willow and Joey reemerging. But something was off. The bow that had been on the front of Willow's dress was gone and Joey's belt was missing. Had they—

"We would now like to announce the winning pair of the competition!" announced Principal Fuji.

Everyone grew quiet when the music began to fade. They'd picked a winner? Already? Maybe they wanted to do it as soon as possible so that they could hightail it out of here.

"Seeing as how we have so many women on the faculty, the decision was quick and easy," he grumbled. "Our 'Best Couple' goes to Joey and Willow!"

"We won?" Willow deadpanned.

"But we weren't even dancin' for that long!" added Joey.

"It doesn't matter," Principal Fuji whispered as he dragged the two of them up to the front of the gym. "They all thought your kiss was cute. That's how you won."

"Kiss? What kiss?" questioned the blond.

"When you were pressed against the wall."

"We didn't kiss," Willow corrected him.

"Really?" replied Principal Fuji. "That's what it looked like to everyone else. And when you two left, the women on the faculty thought you two had confessed to each other."

"That didn't happen!" exclaimed Joey.

"Well, it doesn't really matter. You still won. Now, you're going to claim your prize and do it with ease," he continued. "And now for your prize! A gift certificate to Burger World!"

That was it? A gift certificate to Burger World? They could have at least gotten them a gift certificate to a decent restaurant or something. Cheap bastards. Oh, well. It was better than nothing.

Joey took the gift certificate and smiled sheepishly as the students cheered.

"You guys were pretty good out there," commented Tea as Willow and Joey filtered back into the crowd of students.

"Thanks, I guess," replied Willow. "You and Nessa were pretty good, too."

"I saw what the two of you did!" Nessa blurted. "You two kissed and then left together!"

Kaiba's eyes widened. _Thank you, Nessa for being so uncouth_, he thought. Maybe she'd be able to clear things up.

"For the last time, we didn't kiss!" Willow explained. "Joey bumped into me. His belt got stuck on the bow of my dress. We left so that we could get unstuck. But I ended up ripping the bow off the dress. And then Joey took his belt off because the bow was stuck in it."

Joey pulled the belt that had the bow stuck on it out of his pocket as proof.

Kaiba sighed in relief. There was nothing going on between Joey and Willow.

Nessa, however, looked disappointed. "So I'm not stuck in the middle of a love square?"

"A love square?" everyone echoed.

"Where in the world did you get a love square from?" Joey asked exasperatedly.

"That would require four people," said Tea.

Nessa nodded vigorously. "Yeah. Me, Joey, Willow and—"

"Actually," Willow cut in, noticing the panicked expression on Kaiba's face, "it's more of a love pentagon."

Nessa stared at her blankly.

"That's five people."

"Five?" she exclaimed. "Who's the fifth person? This is even better than being in a love square! Tell me! Who is it?"

As Nessa continued to berate her with guesses, Willow glanced back at Kaiba, who seemed relieved that Nessa's attention was now elsewhere. Apparently, he finally realized he had a thing for Joey. And Nessa knew it, too.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Ryou closed his eyes and braced himself for the terror that was about to unfold. Everyone had been invited to Burger World to hang out for the weekend. And when Bakura showed up, cackling in the most evil way possible, he knew things wouldn't go well.

"What did you do?" Ryou questioned him. Why did he feel this was the only question he asked him? But it wasn't like he wanted to know; he needed to know just in case he had to call an ambulance or something.

"I swiped that guy's cigarettes," Bakura started, pointing out front. "And then I slipped some of those popper things into them and gave the pack back to him."

"Popper things?"

"Yes. You know the things you throw at the ground and they pop? Like mini firecrackers?"

Ryou's eyes widened.

"Don't worry. It's safe. I think. Anyway, the guy lit one up and it popped. I don't think he'll be smoking again anytime soon."

"What am I going to do with you?" Ryou sighed.

"Would you people quit whining? You're acting worse than children," Kaiba snapped in the entryway of Burger World. "I offered to pick you three up. The least you can do is act civil."

"Hey, it's not my fault I skipped breakfast," Joey complained.

The brunet just raised his eyebrow skeptically. "I never said not to have breakfast. I just said to be ready by noon."

"Yeah, and that means Joey and I can use our gift certificate to pig out; therefore, no breakfast," added Willow. "And we're late anyway, so technically, it is your fault."

"It is not my fault that Nessa was still asleep when we arrived!" Kaiba snapped.

"Oh, so it's my fault then?" Nessa retorted.

"Yes! It is! It's not—forget it! Just get inside," Kaiba groaned, Mokuba giggling behind him. "And you shut up."

"This is fun! I like them!" Mokuba said with a smile. He really enjoyed the fact that these three could work up his brother so much.

As soon as they were inside, however, Joey and Willow bolted for the register to place their order.

"Well, look who decided to show up. You're late. That's very unlike you, Kaiba," stated Yami with a smirk.

Kaiba's eye twitched as he rounded on the others who'd been invited. "Don't even start with me. I already had to spend what felt like half the day waiting for _her_ to wake up and get ready," he said, indicating Nessa.

Yami chuckled. "Anyway, we're all over there. I think everyone's here now."

"Come on, Seto. Let's get something to eat already," insisted Mokuba.

"Fine," the brunet relented, allowing himself to be dragged to the register. Willow and Joey were nowhere to be seen. They placed their orders, received their food, and proceed to sit with everyone else.

But Joey and Willow were still missing. Looking perturbed, Kaiba glanced around, not spotting them.

"Their orders aren't done yet," Nessa started as if reading his mind. "So they're probably wandering around while trying to keep their stomachs under control."

Deciding to act a bit more socially, Kaiba replied, "How can their orders not be finished? We went after them."

At this, Nessa chuckled. "They have black holes for stomachs, so let's just say they normally order enough food for ten people."

Kaiba paled slightly. If Willow ate anything like Joey…

"Finally!" Joey sighed in exasperation, carrying a tray loaded with what looked like half the menu. He and Willow strode over to two empty seats and started dividing up their spoils.

"That one's mine!" declared Willow.

"No it's not!"

"Joey, I ordered two double cheeseburgers, a chicken sandwich, fries, onion rings, chicken nuggets, a side salad, and a soda."

"I thought ya got one double cheeseburger and two chicken sandwiches!"

"No. That was last time."

"Then why do we only have three double—never mind. The other one was under the—wait! They gave us an extra order of chicken nuggets!"

"Shh! Not so loud!" Willow hissed.

"What? It's not like they're gonna take it back."

"You don't know that for sure. Now split up the extra chicken nuggets with me."

Everyone paused from eating as they watched Willow and Joey sort out their mound of food. Noticing that it had gotten quiet, they both raised their heads and simultaneously said, "What?"

"You two are so alike, it's scary," Tristan blurted.

"Are we?" asked Willow.

"I have to agree with him on this one," Duke pointed out. "I've never seen anyone eat as much as Joey."

"It depends on what it is," Willow said. "I can beat him at eating breakfast foods any day."

"That was a fluke!" interrupted Joey.

"It was not! It was a pancake eating contest! Don't blame me because your decided to eat some bacon to help you wash down the pancakes!"

"It was the only way to keep up with ya!"

"How did you two meet?" Tea asked suddenly. Their second round of bickering cease when the question finally sank in, making Nessa chuckle.

"At the Sports Clubs' Seminar," they answered together.

"I think they got that, but they want specifics," Nessa teased.

At this, Willow and Joey grew bright red as they glared back at her.

"It must be some story if you two are blushing like that," said Duke.

"That's because it's embarrassin'," Joey muttered.

"Well?" inquired Yugi.

"If you don't tell them, I will," insisted Nessa.

"A cupcake," Willow blurted. "A chocolate cupcake."

"Yeah," Joey continued sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "The seminar had a buffet type setup for lunch. I was headin' back to the buffet table for dessert and I saw that there was only one cupcake left."

"We reached for it at the same time," continued Willow. "And being the hotheaded guy he is, he challenged me to a duel over the cupcake."

Yugi's eyes lit up. "Duel Monsters?"

"Yep," Joey replied solemnly as if reliving the moment. "She kicked my ass."

"I'll kick it again whenever you're ready. And don't say it was a fluke, either. We've dueled five time and you still haven't beaten me."

Kaiba was finding this conversation to be very interesting. Sure, Joey was good; he'd admit that. But to find someone who could beat him so easily was just stunning.

Yami chuckled. "It seems you need to work on your deck, Joey."

The blond glared at him. "Don't underestimate her, Yami. She can switch up her strategies in that deck of hers in an instant. Ya can't even build a deck to counter hers because her strategy switches nearly every turn."

"Is that so?" Yami replied, looking interested. "Maybe we should have a duel."

Willow smirked. "You're on."

* * *

Kaiba was astounded. He'd never seen anyone butt heads with Yami like this. In the beginning, he assumed Willow's deck wasn't all that great considering her first move had been sloppy. But he was starting to rethink that now. He believed she'd just been testing Yami out, trying to determine exactly how he dueled. And every move she made seemed to be a step closer to setting Yami up for something big.

Currently, Willow had 700 Life Points, while Yami still had 2000. Anyone would believe that Yami would win this duel, but Kaiba really felt that Willow would pull this one off, especially with the standstill the two were in right now.

On Yami's side of the field, he had his Dark Magician and Swords of Revealing Light, which blocked Willow from attacking.

Willow, on the other hand, had her field spell A Legendary Ocean out on the field, dropping the level of all water-type monsters by one while also increasing their attack and defense points by 200.

She also had the trap card Gravity Bind on the field. This prevented all level four or higher monsters from attacking. So this protected her two 7 Colored Fish monsters on the field, which now each had 2000 attack points and were also level three due to A Legendary Ocean.

But thanks to Swords of Revealing Light, she couldn't attack even if she wanted to.

"On my next turn, this duel is over," Yami stated proudly.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. It's my turn right now," said Willow as she drew a card. The smirk on her face was enough to make Kaiba's smirk look like a giddy schoolgirl smile.

"I tribute one of my 7 Colored Fish to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch in attack mode."

"You still can't attack me—"

"What did I say about getting ahead of yourself?" she interrupted. "When Mobius is tribute summoned successfully, I can destroy up to two spell or trap cards on the field."

Yami's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.

"I select your Swords of Revealing Light and my Gravity Bind," Willow continued. "Now that those cards are out of the way, you're completely open for an attack."

Everyone watched as Willow's Mobius the Frost Monarch, which had 2600 attack points thanks to A Legendary Ocean, took out Yami's Dark Magician, dropping his Life Points to 1900. But she wasn't finished yet. Willow still had her other 7 Colored Fish on the field. And once her final monster attacked Yami, his Life Points became 0.

Kaiba inwardly jumped for joy when his archrival suddenly dropped to his knees, appearing utterly crushed by this defeat. If the brunet wasn't interested in Joey, he would have married this woman.

Willow walked over to Yami, offering him her hand. "Don't take it so hard. It was fun. Until next time?"

Yami raised his head and slowly got to his feet, taking the hand offered him as he shook it. "That was a good duel. I'm sorry I took it so lightly. I underestimated you."

"Well, you'll just have to do better next time," she laughed in response. "But I', serious when I say it was a lot of fun."

"Dude, she totally wiped the floor with you," cackled Duke, the others finally overcoming their shock over Yami losing.

"I can't believe it," Yugi added.

"This day just gets better and better!" cried Bakura in delight.

At this, Mokuba decided he needed to make an announcement. "You know what would make this day even better?"

Kaiba did not like the look he was receiving from his brother.

"A sleepover at our place!" the younger boy shouted.

* * *

Having a sleepover might have seemed like a good idea, but when there were fourteen people—including himself—swarming his mansion like locusts, Kaiba started having second thoughts.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kaiba demanded, eyes narrowing at the suitcase Bakura held in his hand; he hadn't arrived with that.

"Nothing," replied Bakura.

"Don't you bullshit me," Kaiba ground out. "What are you doing?"

"I saw some things I liked. So what? I only decided to pack them away to take home with me tomorrow," he replied nonchalantly.

"You can't come into someone else's home and take their things!" roared the brunet as he dove for the suitcase. But Bakura was too quick for him. "I hate sleepovers!"

"Have ya even had a sleepover before?" Joey asked hesitantly when he noticed Kaiba's face turning purple.

"No," he admitted, his skin reaching a more natural color. "But that's no excuse to take someone else's possessions!"

"He's just havin' some fun."

"Fun? I don't thi—where the hell is my Persian rug?" Kaiba snapped as he stormed off, leaving Joey in a stupor in the hall. "Bakura! I'm going to kill you!"

"This ain't gonna end well."

"Hey, Joey?" Mokuba started, tugging on the blond's sleeve. "I ordered pizza."

"How many?"

"Five large ones. Why?"

"Ya should triple the order. Some of us can really put it away."

"By some of us, do you mean you and Willow?"

"Maybe," Joey replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"How can you two still be hungry? After everything you ate for lunch, I figured you'd be full for days!"

"What? We've got fast metabolisms?" Joey defended.

"Or black holes for stomachs," mumbled Mokuba.

"So about the extra pizzas…"

"I'm on it."

* * *

"No," Kaiba insisted firmly.

"Why not?" asked Joey.

"Because…Mokuba is present. It'll be inappropriate."

"I could just watch, Seto. I don't have to be involved," offered Mokuba.

"The squirt's right. It's just Spin the Bottle," added Tristan.

Everyone looked at the C.E.O. hopefully. It wasn't a sleepover if they didn't play games like this.

"Fine," Kaiba grumbled. "But if things get weird, we're stopping." The brunet wasn't sure if they'd heard him or not because they all sat themselves down on the floor.

"I get to go first!" Tea cried as she grabbed hold of the bottle and spun it. It landed on Marik. The brunette paled significantly. "No," she whined.

"Oh, yes," cackled Marik as he leapt across the room and planted one on her, to which Tea planted her fist in his stomach.

Everyone gaped until Duke cleared his throat. "I'll go next," he said, taking the bottle and spinning it. The bottle spun several times before landing on Joey.

Noticing that Duke hadn't moved—whether it was from shock or fear, he didn't know—Joey decided that he needed to be the one to initiate things. So he leaned over toward the other teen and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

It was quick and simple. Done.

"I'll give it a shot…then," voiced Yugi. He spun the bottle.

And it landed on Yami.

"Oh, give me a fucking break," quipped Bakura. "This game got boring really fast. Let's play a different game."

"I agree," said Malik. "How about Truth or Dare?"

"Ooh! That sounds fun! I wanna start!" cried Mokuba. "Willow, truth or dare?"

Stunned by the sudden question, she answered, "Uh…truth."

"Who was your first kiss with?"

Willow blinked a few times. She kind of regretted not picking dare instead. "I haven't had my first kiss yet."

"Man, I knew we should've kept playing Spin the Bottle," mumbled Tristan.

"Ryou," started Willow after shooting Tristan a glare, "truth or dare?"

"Um, I'll go with truth."

"Who was your first crush?"

Ryou paled significantly. "It was…can I change my choice to dare?"

"No!" everyone cried.

"Fine. It was Yami. Happy?"

"WHAT?" Bakura screeched, rounding on Yami. "What did you do to my Ryou?"

"I never did anything to him! I never even knew he liked me!" he insisted.

"Sit down, Bakura. That was a long time ago," stated Ryou firmly.

Bakura plopped himself on the ground and crossed his arms, looking put out. "Fine."

Ryou sighed in relief before continuing with the game. "Kaiba, truth or dare?"

Kaiba shot everyone in the room a glare. "Unlike the rest of you, I'm not afraid of a little dare, so I pick dare."

The brunet didn't realize Ryou could give looks like that. He looked absolutely evil; he scared him more than Mokuba did when he was on a sugar high.

"Excellent, Kaiba. I dare you to moonwalk across the room."

Moonwalk? What the hell was that? Kaiba was extremely confused. "I don't know what that is."

"It's one of the dances Michael Jackson is known for," clarified Joey.

"…"

"I've got this," said Mokuba. "Seto, it's a dance technique that presents the illusion of the dancer being pulled backward while attempting to walk forward."

Everyone stared at the young boy blankly, except for Kaiba.

"That's it? Why didn't Ryou just say that in the first place?" the brunet inquired as he stood up and walked to the far side of the room. He then—much to everyone's gaping surprise—moonwalked across the floor. "Is it my turn to pick someone?" he asked as he returned to his seat.

"Um, yes. It is," stated Ryou, still trying to overcome—or at least interpret—what he'd just witnessed.

"Malik," began Kaiba with a smirk, "truth or dare?"

"Truth," he replied, pleased with himself when the brunet's smirk faded.

At this, Kaiba started drawing a blank. "Have you ever…killed an animal?"

"Everything except bunnies," Malik answered.

"Why—"

"Ah, ah, ah. You only get one truth," he interrupted. "Now, who to set my sights on. Yes. Tristan, truth or dare."

"I'm not like you sissies. I pick dare," he crowed.

"Yes! I dare you to keep an ice cube down your pants until it completely melts!"

"But…I'm goin' commando today," Tristan whined.

Malik hadn't heard him. He'd raced off to the kitchen. And when he returned, he brought an entire ice tray with him. Grabbing the front of Tristan's pants, he dumped the ice cubes down them.

"ACK! YOU SAID ONE!" Tristan shouted.

"Oops."

"Someone is gonna pay for this!" he cried as he ran around the room while gasping and screaming bloody murder.

After about fifteen minutes, Tristan finally settled down, having gotten over his dare. "Someone's gonna pay," he started. "And I'm gonna go with Nessa. Truth or dare."

"Dare," Nessa responded, looking pleased with herself.

"Fine. I dare you to…to kiss Willow!" he declared.

"Okay," she answered simply as she moved over to where a bewildered Willow was sitting. Nessa placed a small kiss on her cheek. "I wasn't going to take your first kiss," her friend whispered gently as she sat back down.

"Hey! I dared you to kiss her!" shouted Tristan.

"I did."

"But…it wasn't on the lips!"

"You never told me _how_ I was supposed kiss her."

"But—"

"It's my turn now," interrupted Nessa, her eyes landing on the game's next victim. "Bakura, truth or dare?"

"Dare," conceded the former thief. "I'm ready for anything."

"Anything, huh? Then I dare you to…spank the almighty Seto Kaiba."

"What?" inhaled the stunned brunet.

"I'm game," said Bakura. "Stand up, hot stuff."

"Excuse me?" Kaiba roared, jumping to his feet. "There is no way in hell you are coming anywhere _near_ me! Is that understood?"

"Can I just get in one little spank?"

"Can I throw you from the roof of my mansion?"

"Is there a safety net below it?"

"Not for you."

"I won't spank you then."

"Good," stated Kaiba firmly, turning to leave the room.

_Whap!_

The brunet froze before turning around, his face taking on the look of a bloodthirsty killer. "You have a death wish, don't you?" he ground out.

"Um…"

"How dare you spank me!" Kaiba snarled as he lunged at Bakura.

"I think this just turned into a murder mystery dinner," said Willow.

"Yeah. Except we know who the murderer is gonna be," added Joey.

"True. But not the cause of death."

"Anyone wanna start a pool on how Bakura gets killed?" asked Tristan.

"I'm in," said Nessa. "Put me down for drowning in the toilet."

"I'll have a go then. Put me down for impaling," added Ryou.

"You're betting on him getting killed?" gasped Yugi.

"Not really. I just thought it would be a fun list to show him in the end."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Duke asked, watching as Tristan nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Shh! They'll hear you!" he hissed back.

"Who?"

Tristan grabbed him and yanked him down, pointing to a crack in the door. As Duke peered through the slight opening, he tried hard to stifle a gasp.

"See?"

"Are you insane?" Duke seethed. "You're spying on the _girls_?"

"But…they're wearing panties!"

They stared at each other for about a minute before they both peered back through the door. Sure enough, Tea, Nessa, and Willow were clad in nothing but tanks and panties and having a _pillow fight_?

"Oh, my—"

"Shh!"

"Sorry. I can't believe I'm actually doing this," whispered Duke.

"They are so hot…when they're not, you know, acting all insane and stuff?"

"Yeah. I get what you mean."

Suddenly, the door flung open, causing Tristan and Duke to lose their balance and plummet into the room.

"It looks like we have some company," ground out Tea.

Nessa blinked. "Wait! You were _spying _on us?"

Willow walked over to the stammering guys, hands on her hips. "Do you like what you see? Come on. Be honest."

Duke shot Tristan a look that said 'don't do it.' But the other teen gave in. "I think you ladies look hot."

"Not as hot as you're going to be," said Willow sweetly before her mood changed completely, "AFTER I'VE BEATEN THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!"

"Run!" cried Duke.

"Come back here!"

The guys tried to run for their lives, but Tristan tripped and fell to the ground, giving Willow the opportunity she needed to catch him.

"Help me!" he cried as he was dragged back into the room, where the door promptly slammed shut.

Duke stood out in the hall, stunned. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

* * *

"I promise. I won't kill him," Kaiba ground out. "Now untie me!"

Joey sighed and took in the brunet's appearance. After Kaiba tried to shove Bakura off the balcony, he'd decided to take matters into his own hands. That only led to him tying Kaiba to a chair while Bakura escaped.

"Ya promise ya won't kill him?" the blond asked.

"I promise."

"Or try to harm him in anyway?"

"…"

"Kaiba?"

"…I'm thinking," he responded. "I won't…harm him. Consider Bakura temporarily forgiven. But if he pisses me off again, I will kill him and make it look like a freak accident."

Joey figured that was as good as it was going to get. "Okay," he said as he untied the brunet.

Kaiba rubbed his wrists when he was finally free. "What do we do now?"

"Well, this _is_ a sleepover. So everyone's probably hangin' around in your room already. Let's head there."

"My _room_?" he yelled as he stormed into the hall and toward his bedroom. He nearly kicked down the door, expecting his room to be in shreds.

It wasn't.

All of the guys were just sitting on the floor playing cards, save for Duke and Tristan. "You didn't destroy my room," he deadpanned.

"You expected it to be?" inquired Yami. "We do have _some _self control, unlike some people."

Kaiba clenched his fists. All he had to do was breathe and remain calm, right?

"I'm bored with this," stated Bakura as he tossed down the cards he'd been holding. "Let's have a pillow fight!"

"No!" Kaiba insisted almost immediately. "I had enough of that during Pajama Day!"

"Why not? It's not like it's dangerous or anything," said Mokuba.

"Go ahead, then," he conceded. "But leave _me_ out of it."

Soon enough, everyone managed to get a hold of a pillow and the fight began. It lasted about five minutes before something truly awful happened.

_Whap!_

"…"

The room stilled.

Kaiba raised his head, looking at the offending pillow that had dared to strike him. "Who?"

Bakura shoved Yami in front of the brunet. "He did it!"

"Yami," ground out Kaiba, picking up the pillow and rising from the bed. "You're going to pay for that."

Before Yami had a chance to react, the brunet swung the pillow at him. The force from the blow launched him into the wall.

"Holy shit!" gasped Marik, dropping his own pillow. "Is he dead?"

"You can't kill someone with a pillow," stated Bakura matter-of-factly.

"You can if you smother them with it," said Kaiba, turning to face him.

"Am I off the hook if I say you have a nice ass?" Bakura asked pleadingly.

_Whap!_

"Kaiba! Do I have to tie ya up again?" Joey quipped. "I can't have ya killin' my friends."

"They started it."

"I'm finishin' it," insisted the blond. "Now everyone drop the pillows. It's time for bed."

"Okay, Joey," sighed Yugi. It was fun while it lasted.

"I feel like I'm runnin' a fuckin' child care," commented Joey as he crossed his arms.

* * *

Duke jumped when the door to the girls' room finally opened, but he gasped when he took in what they'd done to Tristan.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"I think I've been traumatized," whimpered Tristan, who was now wearing make-up and female clothes. His hair had even been styled.

"You make a weird girl," Duke stated absently.

"Shut the hell up! This is all your fault!"

"My fault? We shouldn't have been over here in the first place!"

"You should've rescued me!"

"…"

"…"

"Did they say anything while they had you?" asked Duke curiously.

"Yeah," answered Tristan.

"What is it?"

"If I ever act like a pervert around them again, they're going to see to it that you'll never get a woman…ever."

"And how do they plan on doing that?"

Tristan whimpered as he fell to his knees. "By posting the pictures they took of me on the internet and hanging them up around school."

"That's harsh, man."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

**End Chapter**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"I was right!" Joey hissed through his teeth as he continued peering through the window of their literature classroom. It was currently lunchtime, and the blond had made it his mission to prove that their literature teacher, Mr. Takoto, was actually a drunk.

Kaiba looked through the window as well, and sure enough, that bastard of a man was swigging away from something in a brown bottle. "Would you look at that? How did you know?"

"Well, Willow and ya wouldn't know because ya two are in the library durin' certain classes. But Takoto usually _reeks_ of alcohol. And I kept seein' him take a drink from somethin' in his drawer. I don't think he keeps it locked, though," continued Joey as he began hatching a plan.

"HE'S GOT BOOZE?" exclaimed Nessa, eyes widening.

"Would you shut up?" snapped Kaiba.

"So what do you guys want to do about it?" inquired Yugi. "We should tell someone, right?"

"Well, even though I'm on the Student Council, I only have so much credibility. And any teacher we tell might think we're messing around," stated Willow. "But we could set him up so that he gets caught."

"I think I have an idea," said Joey.

* * *

"Um, are you guys sure this is a good idea?" Yugi questioned. "I mean, we could still tell a teacher."

"Shut up, Yugi," said Nessa. "Do you guys have that window open yet?"

"We can't mess with it now. He's still in there," hissed Willow.

"Well, go distract him or something."

"I'd better not get detention for this," Willow muttered under her breath as she left.

A few minutes later, a loud ruckus came from the hall outside Mr. Takoto's door. And—sure enough—he got up to investigate. That would keep him busy for awhile.

"Now get that window open," ordered Kaiba.

Joey and Nessa knelt by the window and tried to pry it open. When they succeeded, they noticed there was just enough space for Yugi to slide through.

"Come here," Joey said, beckoning Yugi to him.

"Why?"

"You're the only one who can fit."

"But those sides look sharp. What if I cut my arms or something?"

"Oh, for the love of—"

"EEP!"

Kaiba grabbed Yugi's jacket sleeves and tied them around him, his arms trapped inside, making it look as if he wore a straightjacket. Next, he shoved Yugi through the open window.

Yugi flopped like a fish once he landed on the floor. "I can't get untied!"

"Just wriggle out of the jacket!" hissed Joey.

Once Yugi managed to break free from him bonds, he crept back to the window.

"Okay, get the bottle out of his desk and empty it out. Then replace it with the iced tea," said Joey as he passed Yugi the drink.

"Okay," he replied nervously.

Yugi sped over to the desk and opened the bottom right drawer. Finding the bottle, he popped off the top and nearly fainted at the potency of the alcohol. How on earth could that man drink this stuff?

Glancing around the classroom, he raced over to the nearest houseplant and emptied the bottle, hoping the poor plant wouldn't die immediately from the booze. Once the bottle was empty, he opened the iced tea and poured its contents into the empty bottle.

"If I catch whoever's been making noise in this hall, you'll be suspended before you can even say suspension!"

Yugi jumped. Mr. Takoto was just outside the door.

"Hurry!" Joey hissed again.

The small teen put the top back on the bottle, nearly threw it into the drawer, shut it, grabbed his jacket, and flew through the window in a mere few seconds.

"That was close," Yugi panted.

"Good job, Yugi," commended Joey.

"What do we do now?"

"Willow's got that covered."

"Where is she, anyway?" inquired Kaiba.

"Over there," replied Joey as he pointed to Willow. She was walking in their direction with Vice Principal Kira.

"What on earth are you doing out here?" questioned Ms. Kira. "You should all be at lunch!"

"We were," cut in Willow, "but then we saw something strange and I ran off to find help."

"Help? For what?"

"We saw Mr. Takoto drinking something. We think it might be alcohol," interceded Kaiba.

"Is that so?" replied Ms. Kira, putting her hands on her hips as she pursed her lips. "Stay here."

They raced toward the window when she went around the corner. And soon enough, she entered Mr. Takoto's classroom just as he put his bottle to his lips.

"Takoto!"

The man spat his drink across his desk, giving it a look of disgust. "Kira?"

"Is that alcohol?"

"No! Someone replaced it with iced tea! When I find out who—" Takoto immediately stopped talking. "I mean—um—you see—I have a prescription!"

Ms. Kira pinched the bridge of her nose. Even their students weren't _that_ stupid. "I'm afraid you will need to be released from your position…immediately. We can't have this type of behavior reflect the school."

"I can't believe that actually worked," said Nessa in awe.

"You know what this means, right?" started Willow.

"Substitute!" Joey replied, giving Willow a high-five.

* * *

"Greetings, students," announced Ms. Nori, Domino's new literature teacher. "Due to an unfortunate series of events, Mr. Takoto will not be able to work here anymore…ever."

The students who knew the real reason behind his absence snickered.

"So I hope that we can all start off on the right foot and have an excellent school year," she stated excitedly. "And thank you, Mr. Kaiba and Miss Bane, for being in class today. I understand your academic status, but I'd appreciate it if you'd stop by once in awhile.

"Now let's shake things up a bit. I've noticed that you haven't had the opportunity to express yourselves. I hold creativity and originality to the highest standard, so I thought we'd do a bit of poetry."

The class immediately groaned.

"Aw, that doesn't appeal to anyone?" continued Ms. Nori. "How about if it's _love_ poetry?"

Kaiba's head shot up as soon as she said that. _No_, he thought to himself, glancing worriedly at nearly every fangirl who looked his way. He would have rather kept the drunken teacher.

"I see I got everyone's attention with that one," she laughed. "Here's your assignment—which _will _be due tomorrow. I want everyone to create an original piece of poetry—_love _poetry—that can be directed toward anyone. A boyfriend, girlfriend, movie star, whatever. It can even be someone you're pining for."

_I hate this woman_, Kaiba thought when his fangirls looked at him again.

"And the best part is yet to come! Starting tomorrow, I'll randomly select people to recite their poems! After I go over them first, of course. We wouldn't want to encounter anything too explicit. Am I right?"

Kaiba groaned and sank further into his seat. He definitely would have rather kept the drunken teacher.

* * *

Ms. Nori was quite pleased with the buzz of excitement in the air from her students. Even if most of that buzz was coming from the girls. And by the crazed looks in some—er, most—of their eyes, she was starting to have second thoughts about this whole love poetry thing.

At least she'd finished grading their poems. Most of their excitement was probably due to the possibility of reciting their poem in class. That would have been great if half the poems hadn't all been directed toward one person.

Why did Seto Kaiba have to be in her classroom? Oh, well. Teenagers, right?

"An F?" screeched Nessa. Ms. Nori looked down to see the appalled look on her student's face as she passed her the graded poem. "Why did I get an F?"

Ms. Nori resisted the urge to smack the girl upside the head. "Because you plagiarized."

"I plagi-what?"

"You copied that poem from somewhere else?"

"And?"

"The assignment was to create your own _original_ poem."

Nessa shot up in her seat. "But this poem totally represents me!"

Everyone in the class turned toward them.

"It was supposed to be a love poem. An original love poem."

"It is a love poem and I can prove it! Hubby!" Nessa cried, turning her attention toward Joey. The blond froze, staring at her wide-eyed. "This is for you!"

* * *

**_Nessa's Poem_**

_Mirror, Mirror on the wall._

_Make 'em beg._

_Make 'em crawl._

* * *

"This shows what I am willing to do for my hubby," stated Nessa firmly.

Willow hid her face in her hands. If Nessa wasn't going to be embarrassed, she might as well be embarrassed for her.

Ms. Nori opened her mouth to speak before she was cut off by another girl. "That's not fair! I want to read my poem!"

"No! I get to go next!"

"No! Me!"

Ms. Nori's eyes widened as the girls—Kaiba's fangirls, she presumed—started attacking each other. And when they suddenly lunged toward Kaiba, an idea struck her to save him.

"Everyone who got an A can leave!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. As soon as those students bolted, she slammed the door shut and tried to calm everyone down.

"That was close," panted Willow as she and Kaiba slowed down from their brief sprint. "Are we the only ones who got A's?"

"It appears so," replied Kaiba in the same breathless manner. "Or we're the only ones who made it out alive."

Willow chuckled. "What should we do now? Class still won't be out for awhile."

"Go to the library like we normally do?" suggested Kaiba.

"Sounds like a plan."

They headed for the library and carefully snuck passed any hall monitors since they didn't exactly have a pass to be wandering the halls. Once they made it, they went toward the back of the library so that they wouldn't be seen by the librarian. Their librarian had an unhealthy obsession with Kaiba, so it was best to lay low.

Plopping down in one of the leather chairs, Willow sighed, letting her head flop backward on the chair as she dropped her book bag next to her.

Kaiba sat in the chair next to hers. That was when he noticed the sheet of paper on the floor. He reached down to pick it up. "Is this your poem?"

Willow shot up like a rocket. "Give it back!" she said quickly as she tried to snatch the paper from him. But Kaiba just stood up, her poem just out of her reach.

* * *

**_Willow's Poem_**

_She has yet to see the love I hold within my heart_

_To know that my very soul has been torn apart_

_And when I feel the need to cry out her name_

_I extinguish all that hope as one would do a flame_

_For if she knows what lies within my tortured mind_

_My world will shatter as it's maligned_

_And if she does not feel the same as I do thus_

_I'll have nothing but this loneliness_

_So I keep the truth away from her_

_As my heart and soul begin to wither_

_And as I feign this falsehood as a crime_

_I can only hope my life will cease before its time_

* * *

"I said give it back!" Willow shouted. This time she was able to grab her poem, although it ripped in half.

Kaiba's body moved of its own accord as he handed her the other half. He watched her carefully as she shoved the torn poem into her book bag. However, as soon as it looked like she was about to bolt, he grabbed her arm. "Stop."

"Let me go. Please?" she begged.

"No," he replied as he forced her back into the chair. He knelt in front of her so she couldn't escape. "What was it about?"

"Nothing. It's just a poem, okay?"

"That was not nothing," Kaiba insisted. He didn't really know how to go about this. How was he supposed to phrase it? "Are you feeling…suicidal?"

"No, I don't want to die," Willow said softly after a moment's pause. "I just couldn't find something else that rhymed with crime and I didn't want to change the line."

"Willow—"

"But that doesn't mean parts of the poem aren't true," Willow cut in, her voice beginning to crack. "I never really knew what love was like until I met Nessa. She's the light to my darkness. The world is brighter with her; it's filled with color. And…"

"And?" Kaiba urged.

"I..." she continued; however, her voice started to crack again as tears pooled in her eyes. "I-I fell in love with her."

Kaiba stared at her for a moment before it sank in. "Who? Nessa?" he exclaimed.

"No! The tooth fairy!" Willow smacked him in the head. "Of course, Nessa! Who else would I be talking about, you idiot?"

"I don't know," he mumbled as he rubbed the knot he felt forming. "But…it's Nessa." He paused before continuing. "Are you sure—"

"Yes."

"All right." What was he supposed to say now?

"It's just so…_hard_," said Willow, tears stinging her eyes. "I'm in love with my best friend while she's head over heels in love with my other best friend. Whenever I see her go after Joey, it's like someone's stabbing me in the heart. She doesn't feel for me the way I feel for her and it's killing me inside."

"Have you tried…telling her?"

"Have you tried telling Joey how you feel about him?"

Kaiba froze. "How did you—did Nessa tell you?"

Willow shook her head. "She didn't have to. I can see it on your face whenever you look at him. You're in love with Joey." They stayed silent for a few moments before Willow started up again. "And I can't tell Nessa how I feel."

"Why not?" asked Kaiba.

Willow sighed, looking completely defeated. "What if I did tell her and it ruined everything? What if I tell her and it destroys our friendship? I can't do that. I can't handle that. And with the way she looks at guys, I doubt she'd have any interest in me.

"Let's face it. I fell in love with someone who can never love me back. All I can do is stand off on the sidelines and make sure she's happy. I'll just do whatever makes her happy. As long as I can be with her that way, then…then…" Willow stopped as the tears finally fell, sobs threatening to escape her.

Kaiba stood and sat in the chair next to her. Somehow, he could feel the pain she was going through; it was as if she spoke of the fears lying in his own heart.

"Why don't you tell Joey how you feel?" questioned Willow.

It was Kaiba's turn to shake his head. "He hates me."

"Do you know that for sure?"

"No. But I haven't given him a reason to think otherwise."

"Want me to let you in on a little secret?"

Kaiba nodded.

"Joey talked about you a lot at the seminar over the break. Anything that happened, he'd mention you. He sounded proud whenever he did. So maybe he doesn't hate you as much as you might think."

"Why is this so hard?" Kaiba sighed. "I want change how he sees me before I do something rash."

"Then do it."

"I will if you will."

"You might be asking the impossible," replied Willow. "But I do love her so much. Please don't tell."

"I won't," he said. "You can cry if you want to. It looks like you do."

"The same goes for you," she responded, the tears slipping from her eyes.

Kaiba hadn't realized he wanted to cry until he felt the tear run down the side of his face. But he wasn't sure if his reason for crying was over the fact that he felt something for Joey or he'd found a kindred spirit. Maybe it was both.

After some time, they stopped crying.

"I won't tell anyone," Willow said softly. "We'll keep each other's secrets."

"Agreed."

* * *

Kaiba jolted when the bell rang, signaling the start of lunch. He quickly glanced around and noticed Willow had fallen asleep in her chair. He frowned when he noticed how exhausted she looked. Maybe he should take her to the infirmary?

As carefully as he could, Kaiba stood and picked up Willow in his arms. It felt awkward. He'd never really carried a full grown person before, seeing as how Mokuba was more half a person. But if Mokuba ever found out that he thought that…

He shivered. He didn't want to deal with that notion right now. Mokuba would have his growth spurt sooner or later. But what if he didn't and he ended up the size of Yugi? Then he would be stuck as half a person for the rest of his life!

"Mr. Kaiba?"

Kaiba came out of his thoughts, realizing that the librarian, Ms. Reiz, was talking to him. It was then he noticed he was still standing in the library with Willow in his arms. "I'll just be going," he said quickly before leaving. _Please don't follow me_, he thought frantically.

"The next time you're here, I'll give you my list of book recommendations!" Ms. Reiz called after him.

Finally fleeing the library, Kaiba reached the hallway and froze. Students were staring at him strangely. Was it that odd for him to be seen helping someone?

"Kaiba! Ya wouldn't believe the fight that happened after ya guys left!" Joey shouted from behind him.

The brunet slowly turned around and noticed the blond and Nessa nearly trampling over each other to get to him. Then they noticed Willow.

"What happened?" asked Joey in concern.

"What did you do?" Nessa accused.

"I didn't do anything," Kaiba snapped. He pursed his lips and tried to keep himself under control. Nessa didn't know the details and neither did Joey. He had no right to be angry with Nessa, even if he did blame her for how Willow felt.

"What happened?" Joey asked again.

"She's not feeling well," Kaiba answered quickly. "I'm taking her to the infirmary."

"Okay. Then let's go," insisted Joey.

* * *

"Can ya believe there's no nurse around?" Joey stated as Kaiba set Willow down on one of the two beds. He made to sit down next to her, but Nessa beat him to it. Sighing, Kaiba moved to the other end of the room and crossed his arms.

"That's okay. I can take care of her," Nessa said softly as she brushed the hair out of Willow's eyes. "Has she been crying?"

Kaiba's head shot up. "What?"

"Has she been crying? She looks like she's been crying."

_You can tell that?_ Kaiba thought frantically. What was he supposed to say?

"It kinda looks like you've been cryin' too," Joey observed, staring at Kaiba's face. "Did somethin' happen?"

The brunet began to panic. Out of all times, these two decided to be hyper observant now! "We…were reading _Les Misérables! _We got to a really sad part. Fantine died! It was a really touching scene!"

Joey and Nessa eyed him skeptically_. _Suddenly, a long sigh interrupted Kaiba from having to explain any further. Willow was waking up.

Nessa immediately turned her attention back to her. "Hey," she said gently.

When Willow realized who was talking to her, she shot up. "Nessa? Where—"

"You're in the infirmary," Kaiba cut in. "I brought you here because you weren't feeling well after we cried over Fantine dying while we read _Les Misérables_. You fell asleep in the library afterward, remember?"

Willow stared at him for a few seconds, memories of what had actually happened hitting her all at once. And Kaiba was giving hem a way out. "Yeah. I remember now."

Joey took in the way they stared at each other strangely. It was like they were having some sort of conversation, but he and Nessa didn't know the language. He glanced at Nessa; the same expression seemed to be on her face when their eyes met. Something was going on.

"Are you feeling better?" Nessa asked.

Willow plastered a smile on her face, a smile Kaiba knew was fake. "Yeah. It was just a really bad headache."

"Okay," replied Nessa unsurely. _If you say so._

"Should we go to lunch now? It is lunch, right?" questioned Willow as she got off the bed.

"Sure," said Joey. He watched as Willow left the infirmary, Nessa right behind her.

* * *

"Hey! Come have lunch with me," announced Duke as he grabbed Willow's hand and dragged her away from Nessa.

"What? But—"

"Don't worry. Tristan will keep her busy long enough," laughed Duke as he led Willow toward a table near the back of the cafeteria.

"Long enough for what?"

"Just sit."

Willow raised an eyebrow but sat all the same. "I'm sitting."

Duke sat down next to her and started fumbling with his hands. "So…I was wondering if you'd…well, go on a date with me."

"…"

"Well?"

"Like a dinner and a movie date?"

"Yeah!" he blurted a little too enthusiastically. "If you want to, that is."

Willow sighed. Was she really going to consider this? Maybe she should give it a shot. Maybe she needed this. "Okay. But don't _expect_ anything to come out of it, all right?"

"Okay. No pressure," replied Duke. "How about Friday night? I'll pick you up at eight?"

"Sure," she said with a smile as Duke proceeded to leave. Once he was gone, Nessa sat down next to her.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"Hm? Oh, Duke asked me out on a date," Willow replied.

"A date?" echoed Nessa. "And what did you say?"

"I said yes."

Nessa felt her heart skip a beat as she clenched her hands into fists. Why was she feeling so awkward about this? Was it because this would be her best friend's first date ever? Or did she not like who her first date was with? There _was_ something odd about that Duke person, especially after that sleepover incident.

"You okay?" asked Willow.

"Yeah! I'm fine!" Nessa answered with a smile.

She turned her head so that she could look at Duke. Something didn't feel right, that was for sure. Which meant _Mission: Date Stalker_ was about to begin.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"I still don't know what you expect me to do," Kaiba started, eyebrow raised.

Nessa looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head. "Willow's going on a date with Duke!"

"I know that. What's your point?"

"Don't you know what happened at the sleepover?"

"Tristan and Duke peeked at you girls and I take it the three of you handled the situation? But as I recall, Tristan caused the most trouble."

"Duke's a perv!"

"And you aren't?" Kaiba mumbled. "Anyway, I'm fairly sure Willow can handle herself. She agreed to go on the date, correct? She knows what she's getting herself into." _At least, I hope so_.

"But—"

"Look, she can make decisions for herself. And if going on a date with Duke makes her happy, so be it."

Nessa crossed her arms, looking miffed. "It doesn't mean I have to like it. I'm just trying to look out for her."

"Did you try discussing this with her?"

"Well…no."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know."

"You don't have much time to think about what you're going to do."

"Huh? Why not?" asked Nessa.

"Their date is tonight," answered Kaiba simply.

"What?!" she screeched, grabbing the brunet by the shoulders and shaking him. "You have to help me!"

"Let go! And what do you mean help you?"

"We," Nessa started as her plan came into fruition, "are going to follow them while they're on their date so that Duke doesn't do anything inappropriate to Willow."

Kaiba sighed, shaking his head at her. "And why would I help you with that?"

"Because if you don't, I'll tell Joey you're in love with him," Nessa replied as she narrowed her gaze at him. "You won't know when or where. The suspense will drive you insane. And when I finally tell Joey, he'll confront you, and then you'll have no choice but to answer him. Is that really the way you want this to go down?"

The brunet believed her threat wholeheartedly. "Fine. I'll help you."

* * *

Kaiba and Nessa stood outside of Chez Francois—what Joey would have deemed as that fancy-shmancy place—and waited for Duke and Willow to enter before they did. The two had been stalking the pair for about half an hour and hadn't really done much of anything yet.

"What the hell is this place?" Nessa voiced as she tried to figure out how to pronounce the name.

"It's a restaurant," Kaiba replied. "A _fancy_ restaurant. And you're not even dressed for the place."

"Huh? What wrong with what I'm wearing?" Nessa looked down at her tattered jeans and t-shirt.

"They wouldn't allow you in a place like that dressed as you are!"

"Are you two on a date?" Nessa and Kaiba spun around, only to come face to face with Joey. He eyed them strangely, but there was an odd look in his eyes. "Cuz I thought ya guys hated each other."

"We do!" Kaiba insisted all too quickly. "We're just—"

"Stalking people," Nessa cut in as she nodded. Kaiba resisted the urge to smack her in the back of the head.

"Stalkin' who?" he asked, looking somewhat relieved.

"Willow and Duke. They're on a date. And they went in there," said Nessa, pointing at Chez Francois.

Joey looked at the large building and stared at its glistening windows and lights in awe. "I've never been to a place like that before. Probably never will since it's all upper-class and stuff."

"Do you want to go?" Kaiba asked before he could stop himself.

"In there?" It was Joey's turn to point at the restaurant. Kaiba nodded.

"Hey!" Nessa exclaimed, elbowing the brunet in the stomach. "I thought you said we couldn't go in because of the way I'm dressed! Joey's dressed like this, too! How do you expect to get in?"

The brunet smirked. "I'm Seto Kaiba. There's nothing out of my reach."

* * *

Okay, so maybe there were a few things out of his reach at the moment. For one, teaching Nessa and Joey how to say things in French—it wasn't gonna happen. He'd never known someone could spray saliva so much from trying to say "coquilles."

Two, they couldn't see Willow or Duke from where they were sitting, so stalking would have to be put on hold for a bit.

And three…well, let's just say Kaiba wasn't too fond of the seating arrangements. He had wanted to sit next to Joey, but Nessa had squeezed in between them. It looked like there would be no subtle touches tonight.

"Ugh!" groaned Joey as he glared at the menu. "I don't know what any of this says!"

"What're horse-d-oovers?" asked Nessa, head perking up. "Did I say that right?"

"I'll just order for everyone," Kaiba sighed when the serveur arrived at their table. "Je prendrai Soupe a L'Oignon Gratinee pour trios. Et je prendrai Supreme De Volaille Aux Noisettes Et Aux Crustaces pour trios."

Nessa and Joey stared at Kaiba silently as the serveur took their order and left.

"You speak French?" they blurted once the man had left.

"Obviously," replied the brunet as he raised an eyebrow.

"It sounded kinda sexy," Joey mumbled as his face turned bright red.

"What?" Kaiba inhaled sharply.

"Nothin'! Just talkin' to myself!"

Sometime later, their hors d'oeuvres arrived; it was French onion soup with toasted croutons and gruyere cheese. Nessa and Joey gobbled it up in a manner of seconds.

"You could eat with a little more class," Kaiba advised. "They next course is coming soon and I'd prefer it if the two of you didn't have at it like a pair of hungry wolves."

"But it's so good!" Joey exhaled as he bounced up and down in his chair while Nessa scraped the bowl clean with her finger.

Before Kaiba could reprimand them—even if Joey did look a little too cute for his own good— the entrées were being served; a roasted French breast of free-range chicken, with cold water shrimp, Maine lobster, and a hazelnut sweet potato mousseline cake, sauced with an apple and mushroom frangelico cream sauce.

After their first bites, Kaiba wanted to hide under the table; Nessa and Joey kept moaning as if there was something else going on rather than eating their food. And he was starting to get weird looks. It wasn't his fault they were making absolute fools of themselves! Well, Nessa looked like the fool; Joey just looked sexy and gave him naughty ideas.

By the time they finished their food, Kaiba wanted to call it a day, but, alas, his night was far from over. When he glanced out the window, he spotted Willow and Duke walking across the street.

"Shit! L'addition, s'il vous plaît?" he snapped as he tried to flag down a serveur. But the man was taking too long. Kaiba slapped some money on the table. "Merci, au revoir! Come on! They're getting away!"

* * *

Joey had to admit that he was having a good time. He'd gotten a free, fancy meal, and now he was being treated to a movie. Sure, it was weird being with Kaiba and Nessa—it was like a bizarre triangular date—but it was fun.

Until he saw what movie they were going to see.

"_The Conjuring_?!" he shrieked. "No! I ain't seein' no scary movie!" He tried to run, but smacked into Kaiba.

"It won't be that bad," insisted the brunet. Even though he was supposed to be stalking Willow and Duke with Nessa, he really liked Joey being there. It was like he was on a date with the blond for real…minus the third wheel. "If you get scared, just close your eyes. I'll buy you snacks."

Appeased by the idea of another round of free food, Joey conceded. Once they had their snacks, they made their way into theater.

Kaiba's eyes panned the rows of seats. When he spotted Willow and Duke a few rows ahead of them, he pushed Nessa and Joey down a different aisle. "Sit," he demanded, shoving them into a pair of seats; Kaiba sat between them. "And shut up." His heart hammered incessantly; he was sitting next to Joey!

Nessa was pissed. She'd been hoping to sit next to Joey. She knew he hated scary movies, so she believed this would have been a great opportunity to get some groping in. But no! She was sitting on Kaiba's right with Joey on his left. Huffing, Nessa crossed her arms, determined to annoy Kaiba once the movie started.

But once _The Conjuring _began, picking on Kaiba—or doing anything else for that matter—was the furthest thing from her mind. Or anyone's, really.

Nearly two hours later, Kaiba, Joey, and Nessa were more than relieved to leave the theater. Kaiba moreso than the other two. Not only had Joey's nails dig into his arm whenever something scared him, but so had Nessa's. He knew he'd have welts for days. But that wasn't the worst of it.

Kaiba didn't want to admit it, but he'd never be able to think of clapping the same way every again. He was afraid of clapping now. What kind of bullshit was that? "Stupid movie," he muttered to himself.

"Nessa?"

Kaiba had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized they'd nearly trampled over Willow and Duke.

"Hi!" Nessa called out a little too enthusiastically. "What a coincidence!"

Willow, however, was not one to be fooled. Narrowing her eyes, she asked, "You saw _The Conjuring_, too?"

Nessa nodded vigorously.

"Did you have dinner before you came?"

"Yeah! We went to Chezz Fran…coos?" replied Nessa awkwardly, looking to Kaiba for confirmation. He resisted the urge to throttle her.

Willow placed her hands on her hips. "You've been following us!"

"No! Well, yeah. Kinda!" Nessa babbled. "But Kaiba did, too!"

"Wait, ya guys really _were_ stalkin' them?" Joey asked incredulously. "I thought ya were jokin'!" He noticed Willow glaring at him. "I was in it for the free food!" _And maybe Kaiba's company_, he thought to himself.

"I can't believe you, Nessa!"

"Wait a minute," Kaiba interceded, "she was just worried about you."

"What, I can't be trusted now?" inquired Duke. It was his turn to offer a heated glare. "I'm not some random douchebag!"

Things were blowing up and they were blowing up fast. It was time for some damage control. "Look," started Kaiba. "Nessa was just worried about you because she…got it into her head that Duke's a pervert and she wanted to prove it! So I tagged along to make sure she didn't do anything rash that would result in her getting arrested! Then Joey found us and things got out of control! We went to the same restaurant and the same movie you did! And I regret everything that's happened tonight because now I'm afraid of clapping! CLAPPING! Out of all things, I'm afraid of clapping! Who the hell is afraid of clapping?!"

Everyone sobered into silence; Duke was the first to break it. "Maybe we should call it a night." He really didn't want to be a witness to Kaiba's mental breakdown.

"Yeah," Willow added slowly. "We should take everybody home. Come on, Kaiba," she said gently as if speaking to a frightened animal. She placed her hand on his back and guided him out of the theater.

Suddenly, an idea struck Nessa. Stepping behind Kaiba, she clapped her hands twice. He bolted. "Oh, this is going to be fun!" she cackled.

"That wasn't funny!" Willow shouted at her. She ran after Kaiba, who'd disappeared into traffic; car horns blared and tires screeched.

"I think he's going to need some serious therapy after this," said Duke when Kaiba just missed a bus.

"Ya think?" added Joey, becoming extremely worried for the brunet. "Hey, Nessa. Do ya think he'll sue ya or somethin' for attempted murder?"

"Huh? Why would he do that?"

"You just scared him into oncoming traffic," said Duke. "What do you think he's going to do to you when he comes to his senses?"

Her smile faded. It was Nessa's turn to bolt.

* * *

When Monday arrived, no one dared mention Kaiba's new fear of clapping. His mood said it all. And it didn't seem like it was going to improve, either. They had a field trip to the museum this morning.

"So, how did the date with Duke go?" Tea asked Willow as they waited outside for the buses to show up. She gave her a nudge.

"It was…enlightening."

"Are you going on another date?"

"I…don't really know. We didn't talk much after the movie," Willow replied with a little laugh. There was no way in hell she'd tell Tea that she'd spent most of the night trying to prevent Kaiba from getting hit by cars.

"Well, I think—"

"The buses are here!" she cut in.

"All right, everyone! Quiet down!" began Mr. Chie as he arrived. "It seems that we don't have enough buses, so 3-A will be split up amongst the other students."

The class groaned in protest as Mr. Chie started dividing up the class, sending half of them to one bus and the other half to another.

Kaiba took a deep breath and settled himself in a seat next to the window. He looked around. It seemed Duke, Willow, Joey, Nessa, Marik, and Malik were on the other bus. Which meant he had to deal with the other morons. Why couldn't he have been on the same bus as Joey? He should have snuck onto the other bus. Maybe he'd do that on the way back.

Yugi sat down next to Kaiba and smiled up at him. Kaiba groaned in response. It was going to be a long bus ride.

"Bakura, don't you dare!" Ryou muttered in the back. "The windows don't open in this bus!"

Kaiba's eyes widened as a putrid smell filled the air. Bakura bolted from the scene and made for the other bus, which he burst into just as they were about to pull away.

Cackling, Bakura took a seat next to Joey. "Look!" he said.

Joey and the others watched as students frantically tried to pull down the windows, but it seemed they were all stuck.

"What the hell did ya do?" Joey asked as he watched students gagging and cupping hands over their mouths.

"I set off a stink bomb in the back," Bakura stated proudly.

"How many drops was it?"

"Drops?" Bakura appeared confused. "I emptied the whole bottle."

"You emptied the whole bottle in the back of the bus?!" Duke exclaimed. "Do you even know who's on that bus?!"

Bakura shook his head.

"Kaiba's on it!"

The color drained from his face.

Everyone turned their attention back to the other bus. Strangely enough, the bus driver had pulled out an oxygen mask; it made them wonder if he'd encountered this sort of situation before. Kaiba, on the other hand, looked absolutely pissed while Yugi looked positively green.

Yugi suddenly lurched forward. And by the disgusted look on Kaiba's face, Yugi had just puked on his shoes.

"He's going to kill me, isn't he?" Bakura gulped.

"No—well, probably," said Joey as he scratched the back of his head. "It might depend on who sets him off first."

"I don't want to die!"

Nessa looked back at Bakura. Maybe this was her chance to strike up some sort of truce. "Hey, Bakura! I know a secret about Kaiba that might get you off the hook!"

"What is it?" he asked eagerly.

"Nessa, don't you dare!" warned Willow.

"Tell me!"

"Kaiba's afraid of clapping."

Bakura blinked. "Like applause?"

"No. Just random claps. We saw _The Conjuring_ and it freaked him out."

"Nessa!" Willow shouted, shooting her a disapproving glare.

The color was back on Bakura's face. "Interesting."

Nessa smiled. "I'm glad we could come to an understanding."

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "An understanding?"

"Yes," she replied. "I gave you a good piece of information and I expect you to do something for me in return!"

Bakura looked absolutely wicked. "I'm sorry. Did you expect some sort of truce out of this?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"You should make deals like that before giving out any priceless information," he said. "But I will do something for you in return for this."

Nessa's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes. I'm going to tell Kaiba you set off that stink bomb."

"Why would you do that?!" Nessa screeched.

"To take his sights off me, of course," he cackled.

Nessa swallowed hard and looked back out her window, her eyes meeting menacing blue ones. She was done for.

* * *

Once they arrived at the museum, it was raining heavily. Students poured out of the buses in hordes, racing for the entrance as thunder clapped in the distance. The weather was getting bad. When they got inside, Mr. Chie gathered his class together and spoke to them.

"Now I know everyone wants to get started," he began. "So instead of making this as painful as it could possibly be, I've decided to let you pick your own groups and explore the museum yourselves. There are all sorts of exhibits and I feel you'll get more out of it if you can let loose a little."

Class 3-A murmured in agreement.

"Well, get into groups then and go explore," said Mr. Chie. "But meet back here in an hour for lunch."

Joey looked through the crowd and dodged his friends until he found Kaiba. He actually wanted to spend some time with him…alone. Kind of like having a test drive, if you will.

"Kaiba?" the blond called.

The brunet turned, ready to blow up at whoever wanted to talk to him, but froze when he realized it was only Joey. The angry expression on his face dissipated. "Joey?"

"Hey! Uh, do ya wanna check out the museum together?" The blond fidgeted slightly, nervous at the prospect of actually spending some alone time with the brunet. He didn't even know if Kaiba actually liked him or not, but it was worth a shot.

Kaiba's heart skipped a beat. "Alone? Just us?"

"Ye-eah?"

The brunet could have kissed him on the spot, but he resisted. And boy was it hard to resist. Instead, he grabbed Joey's arm and quickly made his way through the crowd before anyone could stop him.

When he did stop, they found themselves in the dinosaur exhibit. Kaiba and Joey began staring awkwardly at a triceratops skeleton when the silence became too much.

"Are ya okay?" Joey asked, breaking the deafening silence.

Was he okay? He'd finally managed some alone time with the blond! Of course he was okay! "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Just cuz ya looked really angry on the bus ride up here," Joey started unsurely.

"That's because some idiot set off a stink bomb! And the windows wouldn't open! Then Yugi vomited on my shoes! Do you have any idea how disgusting that was?! I'm just glad I always bring an extra pair of shoes with me!"

So Joey was right about Yugi puking on his shoes.

"I suppose it could have been worse, though," Kaiba continued.

At this, Joey flinched. "Well, uh, about that. There's somethin' you should know."

Kaiba took a deep breath and braced himself. "What is it?"

"Ya promise ya won't get mad?" Joey asked, looking a tad fearful.

The brunet gave him a warm smile. "I promise I won't get mad at you."

Well, that was better than Joey expected. "Bakura was the one who set off the stink bomb and he's gonna put the blame on Nessa."

That actually wasn't as bad he thought it would be. "Okay."

"There's more," Joey continued. "Nessa told Bakura you're afraid of clappin'."

Kaiba opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Taking another deep breath, he finally managed, "SHE DID WHAT?!"

_CLICK_!

The lights shut off, leaving them in pitch darkness. All Joey could hear was Kaiba's heavy breathing.

"Kaiba? I think the power went out."

"You think?" he snapped, his anger breaking to the surface. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to react like that. I'm just…losing my patience with some people. Not you. And I'm sorry to take it out on you."

Joey smiled at him even though Kaiba couldn't see it in the dark. "I know. Bakura and Nessa can grate on people's nerves sometimes. But what're we gonna do now? The power's out! We can't see a damn thing!"

"Just a minute," said Kaiba. He fiddled around in his pockets until he found his phone. "There. Light."

The glow from the brunet's phone lit up the dinosaur exhibit, making Joey get the chills; it looked kind of creepy like this. "Can we go find the others now?"

"Yes. Come on," said Kaiba, taking Joey's hand and guiding him through the museum. The blond was glad it was still a bit dark; it meant Kaiba couldn't see him blush. "We'll head back to where we were supposed to meet for lunch."

As they made their way through the darkened museum, they spotted other glowing phones and strangely illuminated faces. It made it look like there were disembodied spirits wandering the museum. When they reached their destination, they heard and anguished grown somewhere in the distance.

"I can't believe this!" shouted Willow. "What kind of idiot comes up with something like this?"

"What's going on?" asked Kaiba as he and Joey approached her. Willow was crouched in from of a steel door that seemed to be locked.

"The teachers are locked in the staff room," she said as she rose from her crouched position. "When the power shut off, the door automatically closed and locked them in. There's no way to override it. They're stuck in there until the power comes back on. But that's not the best part.

"The museum doesn't have a generator for backup power. The phone lines are dead. And this is an absolute dead zone. Everyone's tried to call for help using their cells, but no one has a signal. And the weather's so bad outside that we're just stuck in here."

Joey sighed. "So we've got no adult supervision, no food, and no power. We're sittin' ducks! What're we gonna do?! What if we starve to death?!"

"We're not going to starve to death," Kaiba assured him. "But what are we going to do?"

"Let me think," Willow started as she wracked her brain for ideas. "Even though Rei's the Student Council President, no one's going to listen to him. But I still think everyone will listen to the Student Council. Or at least you," she said, indicating Kaiba.

"That may be true, but what does that accomplish exactly?"

"Well, we have some panicky people here and they need reassurance," Willow said.

"And food," cut in Joey.

"And food," echoed Willow. "Food! That's it! I know what to do! Kaiba, I want you to gather everyone together in the main part of the museum. Joey, go grab a few people and then follow me."

Kaiba split off from Joey and Willow and began gathering everyone together. He even made them sit down on the floor and encouraged them to use their phones to light up the room. By the time everyone was settled, Willow returned with Joey, Tristan, and Duke; they were laden with snacks.

"Where did you get those?" inquired Kaiba.

"We busted open the vending machines," said Tristan with a wide grin.

"Busted—you stole from the museum?!"

"Not stole," said Willow. "Yes, we did get all the vending machines open. Yes, we took everything from them. But I too inventory and the Student Council will reimburse the museum for the losses."

Kaiba seemed somewhat appeased by this. "Fine. Is there enough for everyone?"

"I think so," said Joey. "I think we got enough for everyone to have a drink and a snack. Should we pass the stuff out now?"

"Go ahead," Willow said. "After we get everything passed out, we'll discuss what to do next. Who knows how long we'll be stuck here."

After students began eating their snacks, they became somewhat restless.

Finally, Bakura spoke up. "I'm bored!" he said. "I say we do a test of courage while we're stuck in here."

Excitement rippled through the group.

"Since I'm the Student Council President, I say we do it!" shouted Rei as he took a swig from his Coke.

"Fine!" yelled Willow over the group. "We'll do a test of courage. But only under certain circumstances, okay?"

The group agreed.

"You may use the Egyptian exhibit as the place for the test of courage since it's right next to this room. But don't touch any objects that belong to the museum. You will be supervised by the Student Council and your class representatives. If you step out of line, you will answer to me, got it?"

The students nodded vigorously, anxious to get started.

"Then you may begin. But go in pairs!"

Bakura and Marik lit up. This was going to be fun. "We should scare them," said Bakura.

"We should. But how?"

"We'll sneak in. But we'll need a distraction."

"It's okay Yami!" Yugi exclaimed as he tried to comfort the former pharaoh.

"That works," said Bakura as he and Marik scrambled off to the exhibit.

"But I know him, Yugi! I know him!" Yami sobbed.

"What's goin' on?" Joey asked.

Yugi looked uneasy. "Yami says he knows the mummy in there. His name is Ammit or something. He's not taking it well."

Kaiba snorted, but he stopped when Joey shot him a menacing look. "It's okay, Yami. He probably had a good, long life."

"This is so horrible," Yami continued to sob as he fell to his knees. "Museums are awful! They're nothing but large graveyards!"

"Maybe…we should go," said Kaiba when Yami started pounding the floor with his fists and screaming "why."

"Maybe you're right," replied Joey. He pulled Kaiba away from Yugi and Yami and led them toward the Egyptian exhibit. "Ya wanna give it a go?"

"Sure," said Kaiba.

_Clap! Clap!_

Kaiba jumped.

"Sorry!" laughed Duke from behind them. "I couldn't resist."

"I swear, the next person who does that to me is going to get their ass kicked," Kaiba snapped.

"Calm down," insisted Joey, stepping between him and Duke. "No one's kickin' anyone's ass. Let's just do this test of courage thing."

"Yeah, it should be fun," said Duke. "Hey, Willow! Wanna join in?"

Willow paused in what she was doing. "Uh, I guess so. I could use a little break from the mayhem."

As the four of the proceeded into the exhibit, they began hearing moaning sounds.

"What the hell is that?" Joey asked as he gripped onto Kaiba's arm for dear life. They paused next to the open sarcophagus. The moans were coming from inside.

Suddenly, the mummy resting inside shot up. Joey, Duke, and Kaiba scrambled away and hid behind Willow, their manly screams echoing throughout the museum.

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT TOUCHING?!" Willow roared. She grabbed Marik by the hair and pulled him out of the sarcophagus. "Bakura! I can see your feet! Get out from behind that statue!"

While Willow began lecturing Bakura and Marik on their behavior, Kaiba, Joey, and Duke were still trying to get their breathing back to normal. That had been the most frightening thing they'd ever experienced.

"That was worse than the clapping," Kaiba groaned.

"That's it. I've filled my scared shitless quota for life now," Joey panted, looking pale.

"We don't speak of this to anyone," said Duke. "And I won't do the clapping thing anymore, either."

* * *

**End Chapter**


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Willow burst into Principal Fuji's office and slammed a piece of paper on his desk. "Look at this," she demanded.

Fuji glanced down at the semi-crumpled paper. It was the Student Council election results from the previous year. "I'm looking."

"Read where is says 'Student Council President.'"

Principal Fuji's eyes drifted to that line and read the name next to it; the name had been crossed out with crayon and the name Rei had been written in place of it. "Oh, dear," he muttered.

"I was wondering how Rei became Student Council President and now I know why! He scratched out the real president's name in crayon and wrote down his own name! I'd asked around and no one had known Rei even existed! Didn't anyone on the faculty check this?!"

"Well, I suppose not," responded Fuji. "We'll just have to relinquish Rei of his post and provide it to this person here." He tapped his finger on the crossed-out name.

"He transferred to another school when he found out he lost the election," Willow deadpanned.

"Oh, um." Principal Fuji fidgeted somewhat under the glare he was receiving. "I guess you'll just have to fulfill that post. Congratulations on your promotion!"

"Are you serious?!" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," he insisted. "And to show my appreciation for your hard work, you may pick anyone to be your vice president."

"Anyone?" Willow echoed, eyebrow raised.

"Anyone," Principal Fuji reaffirmed with a smile.

* * *

"You're going to be the Student Council Vice President," said Willow, arms crossed as she stood in front of Kaiba's desk.

"Why?" the brunet asked.

"Because Principal Fuji appointed me Student Council President and said that I could pick whomever I wanted as my vice president."

"Let me rephrase that. Why me?" he pressed.

"Because the rest of the Student Council is a bunch of idiots."

"And?"

"The treasurer can't even do math!" she snapped.

"That's your problem, not mine."

"I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this," Willow said slowly to ensure he heard her. "But if you don't become my vice president, I will tell everyone you're an otaku."

"Like anyone would believe that!"

"They will when they see these," replied Willow. She handed him several photos. "Mind you, I've very good with Photoshop."

Kaiba choked when he realized the images showed himself reading some very girly-looking manga. "You wouldn't dare!"

"I can even post them on the school's website if—"

"I'll do it!" he cut in. _I thought these were real, but even so…I better double security at the mansion just in case, anyway._

"I'm glad you're willing to work on a TEAM," Willow said with a smirk.

_What manga is this? I haven't seen this before_, Kaiba thought to himself.

"What, nothing to say?"

_I don't have this one, but it looks good_.

"…Kaiba?"

"I'm taking these," the brunet said suddenly as he gathered up the photos.

"I have the originals on my computer."

"Irrelevant."

* * *

"A little birdy told me a little secret of yours," said Joey in a singsong voice.

Kaiba froze. "I am not an otaku and I have never read girly manga in my life and whoever told you is a big, fat liar who needs to be locked away for life," he rambled.

"Uh, no. Actually, Willow just told me you're the vice president of the Student Council," he replied unsurely.

"So you didn't see the pictures?" Kaiba sighed, looking relieved.

"What pictures?"

"Not important," he said. "But yes, I'm the vice president now."

"How did she get ya to do that?"

"Irrelevant."

"Okay, well, good luck with that then. I wish I could be on the Student Council, but ya gotta have brains to do somethin' like that, I guess," Joey said awkwardly.

Kaiba frowned. He didn't like it when Joey put himself down like that. Suddenly, an idea struck him. "Do you want to be on the Student Council?"

Joey blushed. "Kinda. Yeah," he replied honestly.

"And you're good at math?" If Kaiba recalled correctly, the treasurer couldn't do math. Maybe this was the opportunity he needed to spend some quality time with Joey.

"Ya mean like calculus and stuff? No way! That shit's hard!"

"No. Just regular adding, subtracting, multiplication, division, fractions, percentages, that sort of math."

"Oh. Well, yeah. I can do that," said Joey.

"Good, because I am now appointing you Student Council Treasurer," Kaiba announced.

"Wait, what?!" the blond exclaimed. "But—huh—you can do that?!"

"Of course I can."

"But what about the current Student Council Treasurer?"

"Irrelevant."

"What is that, your word of the day?"

"No," said Kaiba. "Do you know where the Student Council room is? A meeting is supposed to start soon."

"Yeah. It's at the end of the hall," said Joey.

"Let's go then."

Kaiba and Joey made their way down the empty hall. When they reached the Student Council room, they heard crying coming from inside. Pushing open the door, they saw Rei wailing next to Willow; it seemed she'd told him about his relinquished post.

"Stop crying," scolded Willow.

"But I-I wanna be p-president!" he sobbed.

Willow rolled her eyes. "For the love of—I'll give you a new position," she said.

"Really?" inquired Rei, his tears ceasing.

"Yes. I'm promoting you to Garbage Inspector."

Kaiba leaned in toward Willow. "Don't you think that's a little cruel?"

"Garbage Inspector?" echoed Rei. His eyes soon lit up. "Awesome! See ya later, peeps!"

"He seems to like it," said Willow. "How much trouble can he possibly get into with garbage?"

"Ya'd be surprised," said Joey.

"Joey! What are you doing here?" Willow asked in surprise.

"Kaiba made me Student Council Treasurer."

Willow blinked. "That's actually perfect timing. I just relieved the current one from his post. Welcome aboard, I suppose."

Joey smiled brightly. This was going to be fun.

"Is it just the three of us?" asked Kaiba, indicating the empty room.

"No. We've got one more. The Student Council Secretary. But it seems she's running late. Again."

_BOOM!_

"Sorry I'm late! I was just gathering some herbs in the school garden."

Willow, Kaiba, and Joey turned to see the newcomer. She was tall and skinny with long, blonde hair tied back in a long braid. Freckles littered her face which was lit with a smile. She also carried a basket with an assortment of herbs.

"You really need to start getting here on time," advised Willow. "And as you can see, we've done some rearranging on the Student Council. Seto Kaiba is now the vice president and Joey Wheeler is the new treasurer."

"Hi! I'm Sunshine Moonchild!" she greeted giddily. She shook each of their hands, but her eyes lingered on Kaiba for a bit longer than he was comfortable with. "I'm the secretary. And I also tend to our school's garden."

"I didn't even know we had a garden," said Joey.

Sunshine ignored him. "I just picked some herbs. Would anyone like tea?"

Kaiba stared at the contents in her basket. "You're growing marijuana?"

"Excuse me?! I would never!"

"Then why do you have some in your basket." Kaiba pointed to a section of leaves.

Staring at it for some time, Sunshine exclaimed, "You mean someone's been growing pot in my garden?! Who would do something like this?!"

Everyone else looked at each other. "Rei," they replied.

"This is awful! I can't believe this is happening!"

"It's okay," said Joey, trying to console her. "No harm done, right?"

"NO HARM DONE?!" she roared. "I JUST MADE A BATCH OF BROWNIES USING THESE AND ALREADY GAVE THEM AWAY!"

"You…put herbs in brownies?" Kaiba asked.

"Well, obviously not considering it's actually pot!"

"Who did you give the brownies to?" asked Willow.

Sunshine dropped to her knees. "I put them in the teacher's lounge."

Kaiba resisted the urge to laugh. "So you've drugged our teachers with pot brownies."

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Did you leave a note saying who they're from?" inquired Willow.

"No," Sunshine sighed. "But I left them there this morning. They've probably all been eaten by now." They stayed in silence for a minute. "If anyone asks, let's say it was Rei."

"But he didn't make the brownies," said Kaiba.

"HE GREW POT IN MY GARDEN! HE CONTAMINATED MY ORGANIC HERBS WITH HIS UNCLEAN FILTH! HE MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS SINS AGAINST THE NATURAL WORLD!"

"What the hell is she talkin' about?" Joey whispered.

"I have no idea," Kaiba muttered.

"You do realize that this doesn't change the fact that there is still marijuana growing in your herb garden," said Willow. "And since you're the only one who talks about, people are going to think you're the one who's growing it."

"You're right!" Sunshine gasped. "I need to get rid of it!"

"And how are you going to do that?" asked Willow.

"I'm going to burn it!" cried Sunshine as she ran out the door.

"Burn it—Sunshine come back! You can't burn it! You're going to make the whole school high! Sunshine!" yelled Willow as she ran after her.

"Well, that was an interestin' first meetin'," said Joey.

"That it was," replied Kaiba.

* * *

"Good morning, students! And welcome to our 25th Annual Sports Festival!" announced Principal Fuji. "I hope that everyone is ready for our spectacular event! And may the best class win! Now, let's have a few words from out Student Council President, Willow Bane!"

Willow approached the podium with Kaiba, Joey, and Sunshine. "We have many great events for today's Sports Festival. The day will go something like this. We'll start out with the dekapan relay, then the 100m relay, followed up by tug-o-war. We'll break for lunch which will be provided for you in the empty gym at the other end of the campus. After lunch, we'll have a set of four more activities which make up the obstacle relay: the danboru goro goro, the blindfolded relay, henkindai, and ball carrying. Good luck to everyone! Play safe and fair!

"Now, as for the grand prize. The winning class will be exempt from ONE school end-of-term exam of their choice. This has been approved by Principal Fuji. And as he said, may the best class win.

* * *

"I am not doing this," Kaiba deadpanned when he read the rules for dekapan relay. "No way in hell. I don't even care if you put those pictures online."

"What're these pictures ya guys keep talkin' about?" Joey asked as he watched Willow and Kaiba have a stare-down.

"Not even if you're paired with Joey?" replied Willow, emphasizing the blond's name.

Kaiba hardened his gaze. Was being embarrassed in front of the whole school worth spending alone time with Joey? Of course it was. "Fine. Come on. Let's get this over with."

Kaiba and Joey made their way to the track where pairs were being given a large pair of underwear; they looked like giant boxers.

"For this event," started Principal Fuji, "each pair will each take their dekapan, or giant underwear, and put them on. One person should fit inside each hole. Once both of you are inside the dekapan, line up at the starting line. When I give the signal, you and your partner will race to the finish line at the end of the track."

"This is kinda stupid," muttered Joey as he held up the giant underwear. "Why can't we do a three-legged race instead?"

"The faculty picked this event," answered Kaiba. "I suppose they wanted to humiliate us."

"Maybe. So…ya want the left or right?"

"I'll take the left," said Kaiba.

He stepped into the left leg hole of the dekapan while Joey stepped into the right. Pulling it up to their waists, the two realized how snug it was.

"This is kinda tight, huh?"

"Yes," replied Kaiba. _A little too tight. His body is pressed against mine!_

"Are ya okay? Ya look kinda red," said Joey.

"You do, too."

The blond got even redder. "It's just that this is embarrassin'! I mean, what if people take pictures and put them online?!" _And that's only the half of it!_

Kaiba frowned. He hadn't considered that. Well, there was one way to rectify the situation. He turned his gaze toward the crowd. "IF ANYONE EVEN _THINKS_ OF TAKING PICTURES OF ME LIKE THIS, I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR!"

Cameras and cell phones were immediately put away.

"All right! Is everyone ready?" shouted Fuji. "On your mark! Get set! Go!"

Kaiba and Joey bolted…and instantly fell over. But they weren't the only ones. The brunet lifted them back up.

"We have to do this together," said Kaiba, placing his arm around Joey's waist. "We need to keep pace with each other."

"Got it," said Joey, doing the same. "On my count, go. One, two, three!"

And they were off, matching each other's pace as they ran toward the finish line. They were neck and neck with another pair.

"Dammit!" Joey said when his feet got tangled with Kaiba. They came crashing to the ground; the other pair crossed the finish line. "Get up! We can still get second!"

Kaiba hauled himself up and all but threw himself and Joey over the finish line.

"Are you two okay?" asked Yugi as he raced over to them. Yami was right behind him.

"We're fine," said Joey. "I think I tripped."

"Not exactly," said Yami. "Someone threw something at your feet. A stick, I think."

"What? Why?" insisted Joey.

"I think it was the old treasurer," replied Yugi. "Maybe he wants revenge for you taking his place."

Kaiba scrambled out of the dekapan. "Then the team who one should be disqualified, right?"

"Unfortunately not," announced Willow as she jogged over to them. "Our lovely old treasurer isn't in the class who beat you guys. So the best I could do was preventing him from participating in the tournament. I spoke with the winning class and they agreed to a tie. So we're both in first place."

"Really? They agreed to a tie?" Joey was quite surprised.

"It's probably because they're afraid of what Kaiba might do to them if they said otherwise," replied Willow.

"It's a good thing you're in our class, huh?"

* * *

"Let's do this!" cried Sunshine as she put her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing here? This is class 3-A," said Kaiba.

"I transferred in," she replied. "I did it for you!"

"No," said Kaiba, eyes widening. "I won't allow it!"

"Allow what?" said Nessa as she made her way over to them with Willow and Tea in tow.

"She cannot be in our class!" Kaiba snapped. He was having a sudden premonition of Sunshine declaring herself his number one fan.

"Too late. Mr. Chie agreed," said Tea. "I really don't see what the problem is."

"You're not a guy," Kaiba said.

"What does that have to do with it? Personally, I'm tired of there being so many guys in our class. It's about time we had more girls. Do you know how exhausting it is hearing you guys talk about guy stuff all the time?" lectured Tea. "It's not like I can talk to Yugi about boobs or periods."

"Can we please stop talking about this?" pleaded Kaiba. He was on the verge of making a run for it.

"Sure, I've talked to Joey about that stuff, but it's just not the same as talking to a girl," she added.

"Wait, why do you talk to Joey about…female subjects?" questioned Kaiba.

"Female subjects? Really?"

"What else am I supposed to call it?"

"I'm not even going there," replied Tea. "But anyway, Joey's a good listener and he has a sister, so he knows a lot about _female subjects_."

"If you two are done with your bitch fit, can we get started?" interceded Nessa. "The relay is about to start."

"Sure," said Tea, turning on her heel. "Come on, girls! Let's win this thing!"

"Win what?" Kaiba voiced to their vacated places. "The 100m relay?!"

"What's wrong with you?" asked Duke as he and the rest of 3-A gathered beside him.

"Those four are doing the 100m relay?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

Duke shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe their cycles are in sync or something."

"I HEARD THAT!" Tea shouted from the track.

"How could she hear that? We're like a hundred feet away!"

"The sound carries," said Tristan simply.

"Great. Now we're gonna get lectured by Tea later. Nice goin', Duke," said Joey.

"Lectured? About what?" asked Kaiba.

"It's better if ya don't know," replied Joey as he laughed a bit. "Now let's watch the race."

"It looks like Tea's going to be starting. Let's hope she doesn't drop the baton," said Tristan.

"Ya really got no faith in them, do ya?"

"What can I say? They're the only all girl team down there."

"Don't let Tea hear ya say that."

"They're starting," cut in Duke. "Tea's faster than I gave her credit for."

"GO TEA!" shouted Yugi. "She's the first one to pass the baton. Sunshine's up!"

"Who is this chick?" asked Tristan.

"Some new age hippy person," replied Duke. "How can she even run with those jugs? Ow! What was that for?!"

"Stop talkin' bad about people like that!" snapped Joey after he smacked Duke in the back of the head.

"Fine! I'm sorry!"

Kaiba cleared his throat. "Willow's next," he said. Was this the sort of thing a group of guys talked about all the time?

"She's fast," said Tristan in awe. "She's already passed the baton to Nessa."

"She looks like she's got rabies. Look at her face. Ow! Joey! Stop hitting me!"

"Then stop talkin' shit about people!"

"We won!" cried Yugi as he jumped up and down. "Let's go down and congratulate them!"

* * *

"I'm not so sure I can do this, you guys," said Yugi, eyeing the rope they were supposed to tug with another class warily. "I'm too small."

"Hey, we're supposed to work as a team," said Joey. "That means everyone is important to the team, right?" He nudged Kaiba in the side.

Startled, he replied, "Right."

"You really think so, Kaiba?" Yugi implored.

"Of…course I do," he said.

"Okay! I'm ready now! Let's win this!" he said before scampering off.

"That was really nice what ya did there," whispered Joey as he leaned in toward Kaiba. Their noses barely touched.

"Thank you. I think I was going for nice," he replied, leaning closer.

"Come on, you two!" shouted Bakura, slamming a hand on each of their backs. "We have a game to win! If we don't win this festival and I have to take that science exam, there will be hell to pay! Who cares how many prunes there are in at atom?"

"Protons," corrected Ryou. "They're called protons, not prunes."

"Whatever," Bakura grumbled.

Class 3-A then gathered on one side of the field while another class grouped together o the other. Once everyone had a firm hold on the rope, Principal Fuji gave the signal and they began tugging.

It seemed class 3-A wasn't much of a challenge. Ten seconds in and they were already on the ground.

"What the hell happened?!" Bakura exclaimed.

"It seems most of their class is comprised of people in the Weight Training Club," observed Kaiba.

"Does this mean I have to take that stupid science exam?!"

"Not necessarily," cut in Willow as she dusted herself off. "We're still tied for first place. If we win the obstacle relay, we'll win the festival."

Joey flopped back onto the ground. "I think I'm ready for lunch now. But someone's gonna have to carry me. I'm exhausted when I'm hungry. Ack!"

Kaiba chuckled when the blond flailed in his arms. "Didn't you say you wanted someone to carry you?"

"I wasn't serious!" he exclaimed, blushing. "Put me down! I can walk! I can walk!"

* * *

Kaiba and Joey entered the old gym in confusion. What were they supposed to do? Wasn't lunch being served?

"Over here," said Willow, beckoning them over. "Get in line. When you get up to the table in front, you'll have a lunch choice: turkey, bologna, or vegetarian. You get a sandwich, chips, fruit, and a drink."

"Right. Thanks," said Joey. "Come on."

Once Joey and Kaiba made it to the front of the line, they spotted Sunshine; she was passing out lunches.

"What can I get you boys?" she asked.

"I'll take the turkey," said Joey.

"And I'll have bologna," Kaiba added.

"Sure thing!" she said. She turned around and grabbed two paper bag lunches. One had the letter T on it and the other had SK and hearts. "Here you go!"

"Uh…thanks," replied Joey. "Let's go find the others and eat."

They left the gym and made their way over to a grassy spot underneath a large tree in the courtyard. Everyone else was sitting underneath it and eating. Joey sat near Tea and Yugi, Kaiba sitting next to him.

"Hey, guys," said Joey, opening up his lunch. Inside were a turkey sandwich, chips, an apple, and a bottle of water. He unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite.

Kaiba opened his lunch and found the same, except his was bologna. Taking a bite out of it, he immediately spit it out. "THIS IS NOT BOLOGNA!"

"Of course it is, silly," said Sunshine as she sat next to a disgusted Kaiba.

"What is this?! I know for a fact that this is not bologna!"

"It's veggie bologna," giggled Sunshine. "I made that lunch especially for you!"

"Veggie bologna?" Kaiba echoed. "VEGGIE BOLOGNA?! THIS CRAP IS DISGUSTING!"

"You'll get used to it."

"Used to it?! There will be no used to it! I want my damn bologna!"

"I'll trade you," said Tea offering her vegetarian sandwich; avocado oozed out of the sides. "I don't mind eating veggie bologna."

Kaiba grimaced at the green mush. "That's even worse."

"Tell ya what," said Joey. "You have my sandwich. I only took a bite. I'll take Tea's and she can have yours."

That sounded reasonable. "Fine." Once they swapped sandwiches, Kaiba rounded on Sunshine. "What makes you think I want veggie bologna?"

"Because it's better for you," she replied. "Do you really want to hurt a harmless little animal just so you can have your bologna?"

"Yes."

"How dare you!" Sunshine screamed. "How are we supposed to raise our children if we're not both vegan?!"

"What planet are you living on?! We don't have any children! And what the hell is a vegan?!"

"It's someone who doesn't eat any animal products," said Joey. "No meat or eggs and stuff."

"People eat like that by choice?" Kaiba questioned.

"Of course! And more people should!" insisted Sunshine. "It's completely inhumane to kill a living creature just to eat them. And the abuse they go through just to give you your milk and cheese and eggs is absolutely horrible!"

"So you're telling me you just eat fruits, vegetables, and grains?"

"More or less."

"Then I should be a meat-eater even more," said Kaiba finally.

"Huh?" replied Sunshine, looking startled.

"You and all vegans are eating up all the natural resources animals need to survive; therefore, you cause overpopulation and starvation for animals everywhere. That, in turn, destroys eco-systems and natural habitats are all but destroyed. I, as a meat-eater, then have to eat more meat in order to compensate for the meat vegans don't eat in order to maintain balance in the natural world."

"What?" Sunshine gasped.

"That lettuce you're eating right now, that could have fed a bunny. A poor, starving, little bunny."

"A bunny?! No!" she cried as she ran off.

"Ya really hated that veggie bologna, didn't ya?"

Kaiba turned to Joey and huffed. "I like bologna."

"And ya know what ya said is a load of crap, right?"

"I know that. She doesn't seem to, though."

* * *

"It's now time for our final event!" announced Principal Fuji to the crowd. "Each class must select six members to compete in the obstacle relay. This relay will consist of four events: the danboru goro goro, the blindfold relay, the henkindai, and the ball carrying. Select your members and make your way down to the field."

Joey turned to his classmates. "So who's up?"

"I think Kaiba should be in on it. He can intimidate the competition," said Sunshine.

The brunet rolled his eyes. "Fine. Then Joey should be a part of the team, too. He's one of the most athletic in the class."

Joey blushed slightly at that. "Well, if we're goin' for athletic, then I guess Willow and Nessa should be in on it. Tristan, too."

"That means we need one more person," said Willow.

"I'll do it," Bakura said, looking determined. "We must win at all costs."

"It looks like we have our team," stated Nessa. "Let's do this!"

* * *

The obstacle relay was your typical relay, except instead of using a baton, a sash was being used.

"Tristan, you do the danboro goro goro," said Willow. "Nessa and I eill do the blindfold relay. Bakura, you do the henkindai. Kaiba and Joey? You do the last one. Are we ready?"

"Ready!"

Principal Fuji gave the signal and Tristan bolted for the first event while the others scrambled to their respective posts where they would wait to grab the sash.

The danboru goro goro was a bit interesting, if a bit unfair. It looked like a giant hamster wheel, but it was made entirely of cardboard.

"Aw, crap," muttered Tristan. He tucked the sash in his pants and climbed into the wheel and began pushing; he couldn't see a damn thing. Was he even going in the right direction?

"Hurry up!" he heard Nessa yell.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" he shouted back.

"Oof!"

"Give me the sash," said Willow as she yanked the item out of his pants. She wrapped the sash around Nessa's eyes; the blindfold relay now began.

"Tell me where to go!" Nessa demanded.

"Straight!" she said. "It's okay. We can jog. No one's in the way."

"Okay! Jogging straight!"

"Left! Go left! Now keep going straight! We're almost there!"

"It's about time," snapped Bakura as he ripped the sash from around Nessa's eyes. It was time for the henkindai.

Bakura quickly made his way to a very narrow balancing bar. It was about fifteen inches above the ground and no more than two inches wide. The former thief leapt onto the bar and swiftly made his way across it as if he'd done it his whole life. Other students kept falling off and had to start over.

"Hurry up!" said Kaiba. Once Bakura reached him, he snatched the sash from him; he stuffed it in his pocket. "Let's go."

Kaiba and Joey ran over to a pile of basketballs. For the ball relay, they had to carry four basketballs between them and make it to the finish line without dropping them.

"How are we gonna do this?" Joey asked, looking at the basketballs in disbelief.

"I have an idea," Kaiba said suddenly. "But it's going to look really stupid."

"As long as it works."

Kaiba pulled Joey over to him. "We're going to line the four basketballs up vertically between us, from our knees up to our chins. Then we'll push ourselves together, wrap our arms around each other if we have to, and hop to the finish line."

"Are ya serious right now?" Joey asked in disbelief.

"Of course I'm serious! Why wouldn't I mention it if I wasn't serious?!"

"Okay! Okay! We'll do it!"

They did as Kaiba had instructed and began hopping toward the finish line. Other students kept dropping the balls and having to start over.

"I can't believe this is workin'," panted Joey.

"We'll see once we finish this stupid relay," Kaiba said as he continued to hop.

* * *

"I can't believe we actually won!" exclaimed Yugi, looking as cheerful as ever.

"I don't have to take that stupid science exam!" Bakura declared as he dropped to his knees. "Thank the gods!"

"So what exam are ya gonna skip, Kaiba?" Joey asked. They were standing a few feet away from the rest of their class.

"Physical Education," the brunet deadpanned. "I've had enough strange physical activities to last me a lifetime. You?"

"History. I can never get all the names and dates right," he replied.

Kaiba began to fidget when the talking ceased. He really wanted to ask Joey out on a date to celebrate their victory, but how would he ask without it sounded weird? "Speaking about dates," he started, "do you like dates?"

"Not really," Joey replied.

Kaiba'd heart plummeted.

"I mean, I don't think they taste very good, but if some people like them, that's okay, I guess," he continued.

"What?" Kaiba started, his jaw slackening.

"I'll see ya later Kaiba. I'm gonna go call my sister and tell her we won. Can ya believe it?"

The brunet watched Joey run off to make his phone call. "He thought I was talking about a fruit?" _You stupid, adorable moron!_

Kaiba dropped to his knees. Asking Joey out was going to be harder than he thought.

* * *

**End Chapter**


End file.
